Friday, November 4, 2011

Bespeaking of Bespoke

Politics isn't the only arena in which tradition can be forgotten; diction flip-flops too. The word "bespoke" is having one of those moments, and this week I couldn't help but notice a few real crimes against etymology.

First, an ad on my webmail browser pointed me toward the "Bespoke Institute," a company that helps its users find "personal staff," which may or may not mean butlers.

Then, walking near Union Square, I saw a sign for a Definitions gym with quite a slogan: "Creative. Intelligent. Bespoke." It's unclear how gym can be "bespoke," even if their personal trainers are as personal as can be.

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal announced a new line of Burberry trench coats, Burberry Bespoke. This one seems pretty close to the actual meaning of the word (leave it to the Brits), since customers get to choose what their coats will look like. But no cigar: the coats aren't made-to-measure and Burberry's taste-makers, probably for the best, have veto power over eyesores.

And once you start looking, it's everywhere. Soho's Bespoke Chocolates is nice and all, but there's nothing bespoke about buying sweets out of a glass case.

Bespoke does not mean "expensive and cool." We already have a phrase for that: "expensive and cool." It means made-to-order (which, to be fair, often leads to things being expensive and cool). The word comes from the obsolete "bespeak," which had many meanings, all to do with talking. Speaking to request goods is the only such definition that has survived, although today it's meeting with new challenges to its history.

Of course, custom-made isn't a new trend. For me, and I suspect for many others, the top word-association pick for "bespoke" is "suit" -- and clothing made for the wearer must predate mass-market ready-to-wear, or else we would have been very chilly for many hundreds of years. The Oxford English Dictionary lists the first appearance of the phrase "bespoke tailor" as dating to 1908, with many instances of bespoke cobblers in the decades prior to that. In recent years, the bespoke market has expanded to include not just high-end goods (wedding dresses, fancy drapes, portraiture) but also low-end wackiness. To wit: birthday cards and some great puns.

Which is all fine. Those things are actually bespoke.

This isn't to say that word meanings can't evolve, but it's sad when a perfectly nice word is scrubbed of all meaning. Give bespoke back to the bespeakers -- after all, that's been the custom for centuries!

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