Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Fun With Chinese Signs, Part III

These signs are posted at the still-being-built part of our college (classes begin in a mere 10 days).



I didn't realize that in China, bowler hats are considered protective head gear. It seems they're keeping up a fine British tradition:
The bowler was designed in the workshop of Lock's, the legendary London hatmakers, on the instructions of a certain William Coke, who wanted to give his gamekeepers headgear that would not keep getting knocked off when they patrolled the undergrowth and woodland. And indeed, this rigid, dome-shaped hat offers little purchase to obstructions. Initially the new hats were called "coke" in honor of that concerned landowner, not being given the name 'bowler' until the firm of Bowler & Son began to make them in 1850 or thereabouts.
--- Bernhard Roetzel, Gentlemen: A Timeless Fashion

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Why does the bowler-protected worker have pointy elf ears? Is that some sort of bonus protection?