In the U.K. (and in America I believe) it is common to refer to the top of a sporting kit as the Jersey, such as NBA Jerserys and rugby jerseys. However, recently my brother was looking at Australian websites at the kits used by the teams in Australian Rules Football and found that they are referred to as Guernseys. You can see an example of this here .
In my mind it can’t be a mere coincidence that the names of islands with such close proximity provided the names for sporting tops so what is the reason for this? Could it have been the result of a conversation along the following lines in Australia:
Guy#1: What shall we call these sporting tops then?
Guy#2: Well, in the U.K. they named them after one of the Channel Islands I think.
Guy#1: Was it Guernsey?
Guy#2: That sounds about right, let’s go with that.
As unlikely as it sounds it’s the only reason I can think of for why Australians chose to name their sporting kits after a one of the Channel Islands, but chose a different one to the U.K. and America.
I don’t know the answer. However, to confuse the issue even further, I’ve always referred to those sporting tops as footy jumpers, although *jersey * is also common here in NSW. I think *guernsey * is more of a southern state (and hence AFL) term.
No need to be Sarkastic.
I too have often wondered about this topic but there doesn’t seem to be any distinction between the two terms as used here; in fact here is a news story that uses **Jersey **in a photo caption but **Guernsey **in the text.
There is a local saying “to get a guernsey” which means to be chosen for something, presumably coming from the act that if you get chosen in a state or national football team you get to wear the relevant prestigious garment. I don’t recall seeing jersey used in that context.
But I suspect the OP is right - some local confusion between the two similar-sounding and close islands.
Strictly speaking, both Jersey and Guernsey (Gansey in dialect – around here anyway) refer to different styles of thick knit fisherman’s sweaters. Have a look here for specifics. It seems that both words have shifted from the specific to the generic, but in different places.
My understanding is that jersey was, before being a synonym for pullover, a weave, or possibly a fabric, originally developed on the island of Jersey, from which pullovers were traditionally made. Presumably guernsey, which I’ve never heard with reference to clothing, is a similar fabric or garment, named in imitation of jersey the fabric/garment. (It might also be worth noting that three of the five main milch cattle breeds are named after the three larger Channel Islands: Jersey, Guernsey, and Alderney.)
In NZ at least, a jersey is part of your rugby gear, but it’s also the word for what Americans would call a sweater - which, confusingly, can also be jumpers, although that’s less common: however, they’re not interchangeable, as you’d never talk about a “rugby jumper”
It could, though I seem to recall reading that there is a similar Scandinavian word that could be a source for both – the Norse having settled in North East England, Scotland (where gansey also appears) and Ireland in the past.
Or they could all simply be derived from Guernsey – the original Guernsey sweater was purpose-designed clothing for fishermen, after all, and it would be natural for the word to travel with the fishermen around the coast of Britain and across the Irish Sea as they followed the fish.
I think this may be the reason for both words coming to mean sweater – Jersey, from the Middle Ages, apparently, had a thriving export trade in knitwear, and so any knitted sweater came to be called a “jersey” (and fine knitted fabric came to be called “jersey material”). In coastal fishing areas, though, the windproof, water repellent Guernsey pattern pullover was most highly prized, so that became the word of choice.
after a quick google, came up with this… It agrees that guernsey is the source of geansai and gansey.
Although, I don’t how authoritative the barry’s tea website is when it comes to word origins…
