this again

[archersangel]

awhile back i complained about people on r/ThriftStoreHauls not knowing the difference between a sweater and a sweatshirt & apparently it's a common thing.

i just rented spider-man: no way home (i recommend it) and wanted to look up the tv tropes for the movie. in one trope they said one character wore a sweater when it was really a sweatshirt. i don't know why this is hard for some people to understand.

according to wikipedia a sweater is a piece of clothing, typically with long sleeves, made of knitted or crocheted material, that covers the upper part of the body.
think of the fisherman's sweaters, the "ugly christmas" sweaters & cable knit sweaters.

also according to wikipedia a sweatshirt is a long-sleeved pullover shirt fashioned out of thick, usually cotton cloth material.
these usually have something printed on them; a school name, a carton character, or a saying of some sort. the printing will often fade and/or peel off after many washings.

you might end up sweating in either, if it's hot enough or you exert yourself to that point, but they are not the same.

this is getting right up there with people not figuring out the difference between half-siblings & step-siblings.

Comments

[aelfgyfu_mead]

I try so hard not to be a nitpicker— but you're absolutely right, and I've been resisting a rant about this confusion! I see it in fanfic, I see it among college students; I've been wondering whether it's generational, but I'm not sure whom to ask. I need to bug a proper linguist about it.