Surplus Ike jackets

[English Bloke]

As some of you may have noticed, I have a much loved, blue denim jacket (thank you Mr Levi) that I oft wear with my kilt.



I have a black heavy wool jacket that I wear with my kilt and this is probably my favorite casual jacket when it's a bit nippy out.



And I've also got a grey wool jacket that is not dis-similar to the black one although it is made from a lighter weight wool. I wear this with my kilt too...



You see the pattern developing here?...

So as you can see, I quite like short waisted, military styled jackets. In fact everytime I now look at any type of jacket for purchase, my first consideration is "Can I wear it with my Kilt?" And if the answer is no, it stays on the hanger in the shop.

Imagine my delight then at following this thread... All about short waisted jackets and the easy availability there-of.

Ohh... and thanks very much for the link to that Ebay shop... The one that kept me awake for a couple of nights... The one with all kinds of nice jackets from Tommy battle dress to GI Ike! The short waisted, military styled jackets that I REALLY DON'T NEED but really want to have.

As I say, thank you. Thank you very bl%dy much.

Anywhoo. After much deliberation (dag nab-it, there can be only one...) I succummed and pulled the trigger on this wonderful Wupert type offering.


The pictures are not mine, they are from the sellers ebay site on CMcG's link above.


I liked all of the Allied reproduction options and was torn mostly between the RAF BD in blue/grey and the RAAF BD in navy blue. I eventually plumped for this one and I'm not sure why. It is a WW2 British Officer's Gabardine Battle Dress Jacket and in my opinion, is a bit of a snip (as compared to similar, seen elsewhere). This of course depends on the quality of the finished article which remains to be seen. I shall post a review when it turns up.

[CMcG]

<snip>
Ohh... and thanks very much for the link to that Ebay shop... The one that kept me awake for a couple of nights... The one with all kinds of nice jackets from Tommy battle dress to GI Ike! The short waisted, military styled jackets that I REALLY DON'T NEED but really want to have.

As I say, thank you. Thank you very bl%dy much.

Anywhoo. After much deliberation (dag nab-it, there can be only one...) I succummed and pulled the trigger on this wonderful Wupert type offering.

...

I shall post a review when it turns up.

You're welcome for the eBay link and give my apologies to your dear wife

Looking forward to the review!

[sydnie7]

There goes English Bloke speaking in tongues again. . .

Smashin' and crackin' have been used in context that allows me to grasp their [presumed] meaning.

But "bit of a snip"? Am I to look for a rhyming construct (along the lines of apples = stairs or "having a butcher's") or is this some new piece of "separated by a common language" to deal with?

[English Bloke]

There goes English Bloke speaking in tongues again. . .

Hehehehehe... sorry!

Smashin' : The apostrophe indicates a dropped "g" as pronounced, or rather not pronounced by the common people from the North (Thass mee tharriz). Those from a 'port out, starboard home' background never drop letters and would pronounce it "smairshing"... or summat like that. It means, as you've probably gathered, "very good indeed, the very best"

Crackin' : same as above (Craeking in POSH, as in, "I say! That is craeking, absolutely top hole old boy").

Bit of a snip? : A bargin, an article reduced in cost or "cut price", hence snip.

If I can help with any other idioms or Englishisms, please feel free to ask. It's good to have a grasp of how the other folks speak.

[madmacs]

There goes English Bloke speaking in tongues again. .

Dang colonials... i undetstood him fine... have a feeling my wife might have been in the same boat as you though...

[Mael Coluim]

Reminds me with my English aunts here next week, I better call my fanny pack a bum bag!

[Orvis]

"Smashing" is originally from the Scots Gaelic " 'S math sinn ", meaning "that is good". In Gaelic it sounds like "s-mah-shin".

[Mike_Oettle]

The South African Army used battledress as formal uniform (alongside nutria bush uniform) right up to 1994.
The original gaberdine was replaced by something more like barathea not long before I began my training. The woollie battledress tops worn by some of the older chaps in my regiment looked considerably warmer (an advantage, since we had our annual camps in the middle of winter).
I disliked the waist fit of the jacket (blouse, it was called formally) because it never quite lined up with the trousers (which we wore during our national service).
And when I joined the regiment and was issued with a kilt, I found that it often rode up above the kilt, too.
For that reason I personally would rather not wear anything that short with a kilt.
But you chaps seem pretty keen on the style.
Regards,
Mike

[English Bloke]

... I found that it often rode up above the kilt, too. For that reason I personally would rather not wear anything that short with a kilt.
But you chaps seem pretty keen on the style...

I'm just trying it out Mike and who's to say, in this liberated, no rules world that it has to be fastened up? It's been obsolete for a goodly while so I'm free of the dress regs that would once have determined how it had to be worn. 'tis just another coat now.

... "Smashing" is originally from the Scots Gaelic " 'S math sinn ", meaning "that is good". In Gaelic it sounds like "s-mah-shin"...

Well I never knew that... fascinating! I love Etymology, particularly in relation to dialect and colloquial slang. Interesting that 'S math sinn has evolved into a standard phrase across English Lancashire and Yorkshire though, I wonder how that came about...

[OC Richard]

I succummed and pulled the trigger on this wonderful Wupert type offering.

Wow that's fantastic.

Makes me want to get one, along with a khaki TOS and a Hunting Scott kilt!

By the way, Battledress jackets went through a number of variations over the years.

The one above is the original 1937 pattern, with covered buttons and two hooks & eyes to fasten the collar.

Next was a wartime pattern which was less expensive to make, with exposed buttons and lacking the pleats on the front pockets.

Postwar patterns included 1947 with an open collar with very wide lapels and a 1949 pattern with open collar and more elegant lapels not unlike those of a civilian suit jacket. Pocket pleats reappeared on these postwar jackets.

These are the 1949 pattern:



In my opinion the Battledress jacket is the kilt jacket par excellence as it ends at the waist and shows off more of the kilt than most kilt jackets do.

edit: I thought I should add this photo of competitors at the 1950 Oban games. The military men are in battledress jackets, on the left the 1949 pattern, on the right the 1947 pattern.