What is that stubby length of cord on top of a beret that looks like an apple stem?
That’s what’s left after the berets are harvested from the beret orchards of Southern France.
The Dave-Guy
“since my daughter’s only half-Jewish, can she go in up to her knees?” J.H. Marx
Well, they’re woven in a circular pattern from the outside in. So when you get to the middle and finish, you cut the end off the yarn and that little piece is left.
Thanks, Ike. 
I bet that’s the same region where they have the bottle-tree orchards–you know, the ones we get pear brandy from? 
“If you drive an automobile, please drive carefully–because I walk in my sleep.”–Victor Borge
I always thought it was a fuse; like what you light.
Okay, that was dumb. I’ve been doing mind-numbing work today and that’s the best I could do. The orchard was much better!
No! Wait! No! Mine was supposed to be facetious, too!
Oh, hell…now dougie’s run off, telling everyone that berets are somehow woven concentrically towards the center. I sure hope he doesn’t have a bar bet going.
[Memo to self: Work on facetiousness.]
Uke
Hahaha Ike, I was wondering if you were going to chime back in or just let him believe it. 
God, I hate it when guys wear berets. They look like such morons! It looks like a big bottle cap sitting on their head. Then, when they pull it down to one side…uugghh. I mean, if you want to wear a stupid little round hat and prance around like you are cool, wear a fez. Fez’s are the bomb. Now, girls can get away with wearing berets, but only through their early 30’s. After that, same thing: Might as well wear a fez…
“Everybody wants a rock to tie a piece of string around.”
-TMBG
Yeah, as opposed to guys wearing baseball caps.
I think Monica L. did more than her part to attach a negative connotation to berets.
I want a Fez! Where do I get one? I’ll wear it to work and look like that Mole character on the cartoons. How Sheik!
Yes, not far from the spaghetti orchards. That’s the region.
The Dave-Guy
“since my daughter’s only half-Jewish, can she go in up to her knees?” J.H. Marx
Spaghetti orchards??? Please, Dave, everyone knows spaghetti does NOT grow on trees. It’s raised much like wheat, only on very long, very narrow farms. Geez guys…
The overwhelming majority of people have more than the average (mean) number of legs. – E. Grebenik
Spaghetti orchards??? Please, Dave, everyone knows spaghetti does NOT grow on trees. It’s raised much like wheat, only on very long, very narrow farms. Spaghetti farming is more of an art than a science. You see, spaghetti continues to harden until it is harvested. Leave those suckers in the ground too long and you’ll be forced to sell your crop to tourists as “authentic” chop sticks. Or cut them to 2" lengths, sharpen one end, and sell them as reusable toothpicks. Not the best living in the world, but it’s honest.
The overwhelming majority of people have more than the average (mean) number of legs. – E. Grebenik
Ahem… you want to rethink that ageist crap, Demo darling?
I am a redhead, you see, and I do not tempt. I insist. -Cristi
I must admit that I once wore a beret. I was about 12, and we Boy Scouts were doing some charitable work. My brother had owned the beret before me (red, with the Boy Scout emblem on it), and I just decided it’d look better than the cap. No biggie.
As for the “all guys look like fruits in berets”…I dare you to tell that to the fellas in the green ones.
I wanna fez, too. I’d never even thought of that, but it’d be good for alternating with the fedora.
–John
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It’s not ageist hon, it’s purely about the aesthetic.
Actually, the seven years I spent in the Army was where I formed most of that “fruity” opinion. I can’t stand that look. No one looks tough in a beret. Not to mention the majority of the people who choose to enter the Special Forces or Rangers are usually lacking in the “Savoir Faire” department. Heh, you’d be lucky to find one who knows what savoir faire means!
Please form a single line and begin flames here:
“Everybody wants a rock to tie a piece of string around.”
-TMBG
No, Ike, I didn’t have a bar bet going. I’d seen berets, or pictures of them, since I was a kid (late 1950s), I know about the Green Berets in Vietnam, and I have a cousin who used to wear a beret. The nerest I could figure, the “stem” is there so you can pull the beret off easily.
I had “run off” because I don’t have a computer at home and the public places where I have access to the Internet were all closed yesterday.
The berets I wore in the military didn’t have a cord stub on the top. We did have that stupid cord coming out of the back. I guess the military harvested their berets out of a different tree.
Probably one of the most stupidest pieces of headgear I have ever had the displeasure of wearing. At least we never had to wear them in the field. Nothing better in the humid jungles than having a large piece of wool clamped on your noggin. All those war and adventure movies with the berets in the field are a bunch of hooey.
…send lawyers, guns, and money…
Warren ZevonOf course, the green berets are picked before they’re ripe.
The Dave-Guy
“Since my daughter’s only half-Jewish, can she go in up to her knees?” J.H. Marx