Spelling problems and collar studs

It’s funny how some words prove blind spots for the above average speller. I always struggled with the word “Recommend” despite the fact that for decades I wrote it almost daily at the end of every report I wrote. Accommodation (which I spelled as accomodation in the draft of this posting) is another. I hate having to write yacht. I have to mentally pronounce it yacht before writing it. Then there are certain medical ones that cause me problems like haemorrhage and diarrhoea, A lot of other people struggle with necessary, eczema, separate, and – if they ever have cause to write it – Mississippi. An excellent book - ‘i before (except after c)’ by Judy Parkinson - gives mnemonics for all these. Accommodation, for example, has Comfortable Chairs Or Modern Mats.


The way I learned to spell “necessary” as a child (one Collar and two Studs) has now been replaced with One Collar and two Sleeves. I suppose detachable collars and collar studs are a completely unknown quantity to younger folk.


Realising the above made my thoughts ramble down some of the other men’s dress items that we don’t see nowadays. I went to Bryony and Mark’s wedding with a few spare pairs of cufflinks in case they were not provided with the hired shirts (they were, of course), but who else has, or uses cufflinks nowadays. And how often do you see tie-clips in use?


Bracers (or braces) for trousers and suspenders for socks seem laughable nowadays but it’s not that long since many of us wore them. And armbands were extremely useful when sleeve fashions were longer and wide cuffs caused by cufflinks were in vogue.


Do you remember the collar stiffeners getting lost or broken in the wash and spare ones having to be found?

All these items can be obtained from a super site I found when looking for a picture of a detachable collar to show my younger readers. It is the Vintage Shirt Company (Men’s shirts and accessories from 1800 to the present day).