# Man of the (gulp) cloth

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-the-gulp-cloth/109018>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [May 14, 2002, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-the-gulp-cloth/109018 "2002-05-14T14:20:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-the-gulp-cloth/109018/1 "2002-05-14T14:20:23Z")

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[What’s the origin of “man of the cloth”?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mmanofcloth.html)

Interesting report Dex. BTW, asides are good and often as not at least as interesting as the question itself (although sometimes the exception pro… I mean, it’s not always so). Do we have any hints as to why the term fell into disuse for other callings? Was Swift using the term in a Swiftian manner?

What I particularly liked though is the touch of posting [this](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_050.html) as yesterday’s classic column.