Those tweed sports jackets, traditionally worn by professors, with the patches on the elbows

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I can see how this would get started; the elbows wear out of your jacket, you're a professor who doesn't make much money, so you slap some patches on there and just deal with it. But what about the jackets that come with the patches on there? Are they preventative patches, saying, "Look, we know the elbows are going to wear out, you know the elbows are going to wear out, let's just get the patches on there from the beginning"? Or are they some kind of poor-but-wise-fetishizing educational couture? And, god forbid, do YOU own one of these jackets?

― Comment dits-on...eh... le NA? (Nick A.), Friday, 18 June 2004 14:54 (twenty-two years ago)

When I was a teenager, my mum bought me one so I'd look more intelligent. I never wore it, obv.

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 18 June 2004 15:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I would love one of those jackets. Preferably like my dad's, which was courduroy and not tweed, for added extra prof-ability!

― Apostrophe Catastrophe (kate), Friday, 18 June 2004 15:01 (twenty-two years ago)

mee too¡ they're so practical - i am just waiting for a giant resurgence¡

― dyson (dyson), Friday, 18 June 2004 15:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Improv's a bitch, man.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 18 June 2004 15:04 (twenty-two years ago)

ive got one from my thrift shopping days and have the same question

― kephm, Friday, 18 June 2004 15:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Hey, it's a look. Like parting your hair in the middle. Or smoking a briar pipe. Like Gene Simmons or Richard Simmons or like that.

― Aimless (Aimless), Friday, 18 June 2004 15:08 (twenty-two years ago)

I have one that's about fourteen years old now with slightly fraying cuffs and a few missing sleeve buttons. The patches have now been stained slightly with what must be ale. It doesn't quite fit my present frame but I haven't the heart to ditch it and haven't met anybody who deserves to have it bestowed upon them yet.

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 18 June 2004 15:08 (twenty-two years ago)

wear it with a hoodie:

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 18 June 2004 15:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Um, I own one of them though I probably need to lose a few pounds before it will fit well again. (Well, mine's corduroy rather than tweed, but it's light brown and in the same "tradition.") My attraction to the jacket originally (I've had it since high school, and I'm close to 30 now) was the fact that it is corduroy and belonged to my pops when he was in his 20s.

In spite of its age it is in very good condition because I don't wear it often and neither did my dad. It was actually part of a suit, though I never wore it as such, and the pants have long since worn to the point that I only wear them around the house.

But more to the point... The elbow pads (which on my jacket are suede) are preventative. It's a lot harder to wear a hole in the elbow of a jacket if the material making up the elbow is several times thicker than the rest of the jacket. Same reason skaters go for shoes with rubber or thick leather toes so they don't destroy the front of their shoes after 10 kickflips.

Why patched elbows became associated with academia I've no idea. It seems to me that academics aren't in any more danger of wearing out elbows than most people.

― martin m. (mushrush), Friday, 18 June 2004 15:10 (twenty-two years ago)

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 18 June 2004 15:14 (twenty-two years ago)

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 18 June 2004 15:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Gears roomate should get one for when she's face down ass up on his couch.

― Velveteen Bingo (Chris V), Friday, 18 June 2004 15:20 (twenty-two years ago)

hamilton whatshisface of the walkmen to thread

― bill stevens (bscrubbins), Friday, 18 June 2004 15:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Why, has he been fucking Gear's roommate? (Not that this is unlikely)

― St. Nicholas Ridiculous (Nick A.), Friday, 18 June 2004 15:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Do the elbows really wear out that much quicker on sportsjackets? I've never noticed any more wear-and-tear on mine.

Then again, I keep my elbows off of the supper table out of good manners. I lose buttons like a motherfug, though. They should make those things out of leather.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Friday, 18 June 2004 16:20 (twenty-two years ago)

and HERE, a rather accurate rendition (coincidentally) of my roommate and a 'friend' in the living room watching MTV this morning, complaining about the stuffiness.

http://aimeemajor.com/images/portfolio/gargoyles/ugh.jpg

― Gear! (Gear!), Friday, 18 June 2004 16:22 (twenty-two years ago)

i own two tweeds that i got at goowill and a yardsale. I want to have leather sewn on. i think it looks nice, is comfortable, and has lots of pockets for crap.

i can see my elbows wearing out. I tend to wear the jackets a lot and don't like to be particularly careful with them - while when i'm wearing an expensive suit, I *am* careful with where i put me elbows. I would like the reassurance a couple of leather pads would provide.

― AaronK (AaronK), Friday, 18 June 2004 16:22 (twenty-two years ago)

I wanted one of these but I was too cheap to buy one so I got an old jacket and cut the elbows out and sewed on the patches. Only later did I find out you're not supposed to use a leather jacket and tweed patches. D'oh!

― nickn (nickn), Friday, 18 June 2004 16:27 (twenty-two years ago)

nickn.

Please.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Friday, 18 June 2004 16:42 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't have one of these jackets specifically, but a few years ago, I realized that the best look for me would be a disheveled professor look, and I've sort of been going for that ever since.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 18 June 2004 16:45 (twenty-two years ago)

We need to hook you up with a pipe and some thick glasses. And you should carry books around with you all the time.

― St. Nicholas Ridiculous (Nick A.), Friday, 18 June 2004 16:47 (twenty-two years ago)

You're not supposed to cut the elbows out either. The patches go on top of them.

― martin m. (mushrush), Friday, 18 June 2004 16:47 (twenty-two years ago)

I'll bet this man has a lot of those jackets
http://www.kersten-online.com/images/pe_crew_Griff.jpg

― Gear! (Gear!), Friday, 18 June 2004 16:49 (twenty-two years ago)

"A note upon his desk
p.s. bring me home and have me!
Leather elbows on a tweed coat
-oh!-
Is that the best you can do ?
So came his reply :
but on the desk is where i want you!"

― jsoulja (jsoulja), Friday, 18 June 2004 18:30 (twenty-two years ago)

i have a sentimental attachment to them, as my father (a professor) has several of the corduroy type.

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 18 June 2004 18:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I used to be addicted to buying those jackets. Harris tweed in various heathery colours. This was in the early '80s when it tied in with the Brideshead Revisited type look that I was into at the time. At some point I threw them all away. There was a blue/grey one (herringbone pattern) that fitted perfectly and I really wish I'd kept that one. They don't seem so easy to find now..not really nice ones anyway. Charity shops used to be full of them in those days.

― David (David), Friday, 18 June 2004 21:35 (twenty-two years ago)

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