Calenlass
Atlanta
Historical costumer here. Stays are NOT the support for a corset, they are a completely separate garment! (It's plural, like 'pants'.) You're thinking of bones or boning, which were once made of wood or whalebone and are now made of plastic or steel. Stays predate what we think of as corsets, which only showed up in the mid-1800s (and which were only ever used for the famous practice of waist-cinching and tight-lacing by a select few of high fashion elites, like the Kardashians of the day). Stays were worn for centuries before that, and contrary to modern popular misconception, most women liked them! General, they were stiffened with bone strips or lots of long, skinny reeds, like pick-up sticks bundled into long narrow pockets which gave the stays flexibility. They laced up the back, as they had a wide plate in the center front called a "busk", which helped the stays serve their primary function of creating smooth lines under dresses, showing off expensive fabrics and embroidered stomacher panels, and supporting the weight of many layers of skirts (necessary in the days before central heating). I can say from experience that they're also great back support for manual labor, great boob support for larger ladies, and because it's very difficult to do any waist cinching with them, they're very comfy. Think Renaissance Festival costumes and you're much closer!
@Isabeau I spin and caught that, too. Mistaken understanding of niche hobby items (and/or historical paraphernalia) seems very common recently, as in last week's puzzle when "corset supports" inexplicably solved to STAYS.
This is the first time I've ever found Laozi (usually anglicized Lao Tzu, since it is pronounced like "loud sue") as LAO TSE. As I'm not a sportsfan, crossing it with the name of an athlete cost me gold, which was a bummer. Until I got the "keep trying" message, I was really enjoying the theme! In spite of my difficulties remembering names in general (part and parcel with ASD and ADHD, unfortunately), I knew most of these, which made it much more fun than the usual proper-name cross fill that I always have to rely on crossings to finish. The puns and wordplay were just silly and clever enough to keep me from groaning aloud! Ah, well. Back to golds tomorrow, I suppose.
@ktel There is a trick called "sleeping", where the yo-yo is stationary at the bottom end of the string while it spins in place. Gravity is what keeps it in place, though, which is why it doesn't work on the ISS.
@Wes If you speak a Romance language like Spanish, it's a no-brainer: "ave" (bird) "avión" (airplane) "avispa" (wasp) "volar" (to fly) "vuelo" (flight) "volador" (flying, as in "flying fish", and the phrase "no volador" that is used to describe ostriches, emus, and penguins)
@pmom As a one-time linguistics anthropology major, I have to agree that the clued syllable is only a schwa in certain accents, of which mine is not one. I doubt I've ever said "sy luns" in my life. However, once I realized what they were probably going for, I could fill it in easily enough. There have been a number of factually incorrect clues lately, or at least ones that are 'close enough' (like SPIN having anything to do with crochet, or claiming last week that STAYS were part of a corset) that it seems to be becoming a trend.
@Steve Because scientific themes and technology are not central to the plot, and because the stories focus instead on magic (the Force) and good vs evil, it is generally considered fantasy. For example, changing the setting from Space in a galaxy far far away to, say, 18th century pirates on the high seas wouldn't require changing the plot, only accessories (cutlasses instead of light sabers, clippers and galleons instead of spaceships, cannons with Greek Fire instead of Death Star lasers). You'd still have all the same magic and themes. To contrast, Star Trek is solidly SciFi because technology is the basis of quite a lot of plot and drives much of the story progression.
@Michael Since you said BITTE, I'm guessing you didn't get the theme? I only ask as that wasn't the full answer.
@James would you care to share why? No improvements can be made if there's no constructive part of the criticism.
@Jane Wheelaghan I've never heard anyone refer to them that way! I guess I've learned something new. I wonder if it's possibly a regional thing as well. Corset supports are "bones" or "boning", as they were once made from whalebone (baleen), but a pair of STAYS is a separate garment that actually predates the corset. From the late 1400s right through the Regency (Jane Austen) period, women wore undergarments called "stays" meant to provide bust and back support, disperse the heavy weight of many layers of petticoats and farthingales, and smooth the torso into a conical shape to best display expensive dress fabrics and embroidered stomachers. They were stiffened with dried reeds, cording, and wooden busks, and there was no way to really compress the waist, as is famously associated with the corset, so most women actually liked wearing them (most women liked corsets in the 1800s, too, as tight-lacing was something of an upperclass fad and not a common practice). I can see where some might call a corset "stays" (and quite a lot vice versa), but as the third generation historical costumer in my family, I can say from experience that if you were to try and find corset-making supplies online, "stays" will take you to options for that older style I mentioned, like wooden busks or rolls of Oval Reeds and Round Reeds. If you want the flat steel or spring steel that has replaced whalebone, that is "boning".
@KS My husband is dyslexic, so we don't play Scrabble, but we do play lots of other board games together, and normally he's great. However, it's Rummy the card game where he is THE WORST: the smack talk is neverending, the bragging is insufferable, and if he wins the game? You can bet I'll hear about it all week! (And yet for some reason I keep deciding to play with him, haha!)
@Jane Wheelaghan Quite a lot of Americans don't have electric kettles (many haven't even heard of them!) and, if they have one at all, use the stovetop variety that whistles.
I started out studying oceanography in school (eventually switched majors). Never heard of OCEANOLOGY before today.
@Bill And in England, that is known as a "college", which is distinct from a "university". Also worth noting that English "public schools" are private institutions with exclusive rosters and requiring a tuition fee.
@Ms. Billie M. Spaight I have also always seen it this way. In this light, Ghandi and MLK Jr were both "antifa", so I don't mind sharing the label with them.
@T Jones I've never read or heard anyone use it that way, only in the first definition sense of "overcome".
@Barry Ancona because it's a Natick.
As a naturally curly girl who has been cutting and styling and braiding my own hair for 30 years (before that it was done by my mom), I've never heard of BLOW DRY BARs. You go to a salon for a blowout or a silk press, generally, right? (Or, again, do it at home.)
@George If it's Tom Waits you didn't know, you might be in for a treat! His voice can be polarizing, but he's a pretty good songwriter (kind of how I feel about Bob Dylan).
@Barry Ancona I do not REST ON difficulties when I surmount them, I *overcome* them. This is not a correct usage of "surmount".
@Francis Linguist here! The rule came to English by way of Norman French and still mostly applies to words of French origin. I assume there were some perfectly good s-words in Old English that may have been altered by various attempts at spelling reform over the years, as there are many other spelling rules that have done exactly that (see the examples of blue (nee 'bleu') and imbue ('imbeue') vs clue ('klew') and hue ('hew')), but curiously I can't remember any off the top of my head, and Google's AI summary of every search query is "helping" (i.e., getting in the way).
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