In Japan (translated): How many centimeters have you (how tall are you)?
In stores: Mistaken for a store manager.
Occasionally: Mistaken for ex-military.
On campus: Mistaken for a faculty member / professor (I’m a PhD student but 50 years old).
At retail stores, at least twice: complimented on my hair color (which is dyed so as to cover the white patches).
Time to let out a “Mu-hu-ha ha ha ha!” menacing laugh.
Nope. I’m quite nondescript.
Never having heard “petty wares” before I googled it and can’t even find a definition for it.
“Haberdashery” in American English would be a men’s clothing store; I specifically think of a hat store, but looking it up, that seems to be an older usage or something. I’ve always thought of a “haberdasher” as someone who specializes in hats. The British meaning, which I only just learned – I thought it was the same as the American meaning – I’m not sure if we have an equivalent for. The Merriam-Webster helpfully tells me it’s a “dealer in notions,” which I had to look up, and I guess it just means small items/sundries, specifically stuff for sewing and dressmaking (buttons, zippers, buckles, ribbons, etc.) In general, though, I don’t hear the word “haberdashery” in any context at all in the modern US. “Petty wares” means absolutely nothing to me.
OK – so my wife just walked into the room, and I asked her if we have a word in the US for a place that sells stuff like buttons, zippers, buckles, ribbons … and she says, “oh, those are called ‘notions.’” Well, all right, I guess I’m the moron who doesn’t know that word off the top of his head. 
Then she asked “but not fabric?” I said, “yes.” (I think, right?) She wasn’t aware of any specific word for that type of store and has never really seen one here in Chicago, but thinks she may have in NYC. On the “haberdashery” front, she thought it was a place that sells hats, so I’m not the only one.
ETA: Googling “notions store” comes up with some hits, so perhaps that would be it?
When I worked in an (Aust.) department store in the eighties, the haberdashery department was for all the bits and pieces for clothes making.
Yes. It’s a little old-fashioned, though.
On edit: I think of it not just of hats, but ties and socks and spats (going waaaay back) and suspenders. Things like that.
Yes, these things, all the little bits and pieces you need for sewing, are called “Kurzwaren” in German and that’s what the old lady was looking for. I was a young guy who never had sewn anything in his life, so I had to ask my mother later what “Kurzwaren” are (this was before Google).
I’m fat and balding with a beard and when I look in the mirror I see a fat and balding guy with a beard. There’s nothing really distinctive about me, I look like most other middle-aged, middle America men.
But for some weird reason people remember me. Store clerks, the office lady at the podiatrist’s office who I only visit every other year or so, random people in random stores I visit infrequently… they all remember me for some reason. My wife claims that I have a very unique and memorable appearance and goes so far as to claim that when we first met she was sure she knew me from somewhere. I don’t see it at all. I dress boring, I look boring, I act boring. But for some reason people seem to make mental notes about what I look like.
I’m a white guy in my early 40s. There’s nothing particularly distinctive about me that people would comment on. I did get the occasional compliment on my beard back when I first grew it. But…
This. Ever since I got my 2019 Miata (I decided to just embrace the stereotypes about men turning 40 and get a sports car 
) people will come up to me and want to talk about my car. Sometimes they’ll even roll down their window at a red light and want to talk about my car. Or just yell “Nice car!”
Frequently asked questions:
“Is it fast?” – Relative to what? Compared to most regular sedans and crossovers, yes. But it’s not as fast as most other sports cars. But it is a lot of fun to drive, regardless.
“What color is that?” – Mazda calls it Soul Red Crystal.
“Will you do a burnout?” – No.
“Do you ever take it to the racetrack?” – No, it’s just a fun car to take for a weekend drive. And it makes my commute more fun, too (when I wasn’t working from home).
And like 90% of the people who comment on my car are men, disproving the theory that a sports car is a good way to meet women.
Well, if it makes you feel any better, I have lived my entire life in the US and Canada and have never heard of “petty wears”. But if it is really haberdashery (a word I am familiar with), then it is what I have always called “dry goods”. Clorhing, but not suits.
They are sweet! Look got on board* and produced a limited edition binding with the old style font “Nevada” on the turntable and matching Vampire graphics on the toe. I can’t find a picture anywhere on the internet of these skis with those bindings.
But I got a pair!
- Guy I got them from was a Rep for Authier and told me you had you prove you owned the skis to get these bindings. Can’t verify any of the story, but the dude seems legit and produced the goods. I see him now and then up on the hill. He is always happy I’m rocking his old stuff.
So cool! I think it’s pretty special what you’ve got and so great that you’re still skiing on them. Thanks for sharing the info and pics…made me smile.
Definitely a different meaning in the UK, where it is specifically equipment for sewing and crafting. Our best loved department store chain, John Lewis, is famous for retaining a haberdashery department despite it being a loss leader for them.
I have only seen the word in real life once in the United States. In the early 1990s I got my first corporate finance job as a newly minted college grad and had to be in the boardroom a lot (doing ironically quite menial tasks) and someone suggested that I needed to upgrade my JC Penney and Sears wardrobe.
My father’s friend was a tailor at a very nice men’s store and he took me into the store to try out a bunch of suits that be later managed to procure for me at “wholesale” (less than half the prices in the store) at his own little shop in the basement of his home. I still wonder if I purchased purloined goods.
Left side of the shop was labeled Tailor and had all the suits, the right side was labeled Haberdasher and had all the shirts, socks, undergarments, etc. I have never seen the word used anywhere else since then.
In Pakistan haberdashery is sewing supplies.
I’ve owned sports cars and motorcycles since my 20s, and that stereotype has always cracked me up. Women rarely notice sports cars, and it’s rare that they can identify a specific one. It’s much more of a guy thing. What makes it even funnier is when some guy says “You must be getting all the girls in this!” Yeah didn’t exactly have to push thru a crowd of them, did you?
And that metallic red Mazda uses is gorgeous.
I also got comments on my blue eyes (sometimes asking if they’re real, to which I’m tempted to answer that they’re both glass eyes and I’m actually blind), and pretty frequent nice comments on my clothing. Occasionally people will ask about my disability, mainly old ladies on buses.
Haberdashery is the kind of word I wouldn’t be shocked at some people not knowing, but would also expect more than 50% of people in the UK not to know. Funnily enough there are two thriving independent haberdasheries near me, because I live in an area where quite a lot of people have either a main business or a side hustle making stuff and lots of people like it as a hobby.
I’ve never heard of it being connected to hat-making (that’d be a milliner), but that might be another UK-US difference.
There is also a milliner’s within walking distance of my place, but then, there’s also a shop which specifically sells home-made wooden spoons carved right there in the shop, so it’s not really the average shopping region.
Nothing special that hasn’t already been said by many other tall guys. Kind women ask me to pick things off of high shelves for them in supermarkets.
Once when I was out for a run in the neighborhood an older lady called me over and said “Could you please remove that sign?” while pointing up at the back of a speed limit sign. I had to look twice but then I saw what she was talking about: someone had put a racist white-power kind of sticker on the back of the sign promoting some racist white-power website. I stood on my tippy toes and did my best to tear it off. She grumbled something about “disgusting people” and thanked me profusely for the service.
If T-shirts count then I am known for my collection of tie-dye/Rock Band shirts. A lot of people will comment on the artwork and we get into conversations about it. Many people focus in on a particular band and I have to explain I’m not a Dead Head and haven’t seen them or any of the other bands in concert, I just like the artwork.
I’m glad you don’t mind being asked. I do wonder if tall people get annoyed at being asked to help because it must happen so often, but there often isn’t a member of staff around (and a lot of them are too short to do it without a step too) so you just have to ask.