Transcriber: Andrea McDonough Reviewer: Bedirhan Cinar
Mysteries of Vernacular
Tuxedo:
men's evening wear for semi-formal occasions.
Tuxedo, surprisingly, has its roots
in Native American history.
The Delaware Indians of what is now
the Northeast United States,
were divided into three subgroups,
distinguished by their animal totems:
the turkey,
the turtle,
and the wolf.
Members of the tribe belonging to the wolf totem
were often referred to
by the indigenous word for the four-footed canine,
p'tuksit.
In the 18th century,
Europeans who settled in the former region of the P'tuksit
Anglicized the name as "tuxedo"
and slapped it on a town in southeast New York.
Decades later, in the late 1800s,
a lavish resort was constructed
and christened "The Tuxedo Club".
It was at The Tuxedo Club,
around the turn of the century,
when a dress jacket was required
for almost every occasion,
that a brash young man,
heir to an enormous tobacco fortune,
caused a stir by flaunting tradition
and donning a formal dinner jacket
without tails.
His bold fashion statement was quickly popularized
and nicknamed tuxedo,
which in modern America,
is the headache of high school prom attendees
across the nation.