# What's the name of this article of clothing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 25, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-article-of-clothing/568976 "2011-01-25T22:18:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-article-of-clothing/568976/1 "2011-01-25T22:18:47Z")
A headress, often used with some styles of nuns’ habits, in which the head and neck are entirely enclosed leaving the face framed in an oval? ---
**Author:** ![SylverOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SylverOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SylverOne)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-article-of-clothing/568976/2 "2011-01-25T22:19:59Z")
It’s a [wimple.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wimple) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-article-of-clothing/568976/3 "2011-01-25T22:21:20Z")
I thought he was the old dude who was pimping toilet paper. ---
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-article-of-clothing/568976/4 "2011-01-25T22:21:43Z")
[Wimple](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_habit#Nuns) ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-article-of-clothing/568976/5 "2011-01-25T22:26:33Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I thought he was the old dude who was pimping toilet paper. That’s Mr Whipple ([Mr. Whipple - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Whipple))… ahhh, I saw what you did there. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-article-of-clothing/568976/6 "2011-01-25T23:48:36Z")
> [@SylverOne](#): > > It’s a [wimple.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wimple) That doesn’t seem to quite be it; what I’m thinking of makes the face look like they are looking through a cutout. ETA: unless what I’m thinking of is a sub-variety of wimple where the “framing” of the face is much tighter than some. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-article-of-clothing/568976/7 "2011-01-26T00:27:10Z")
wimples can range from very tight to very loose. [http://www.bohemian.com/bohemian/02.20.08/stage-0808.html](http://www.bohemian.com/bohemian/02.20.08/stage-0808.html) [http://lynnehurstinvites.com/edyth/notes/veil.html](http://lynnehurstinvites.com/edyth/notes/veil.html) It could also be a barbette [http://www.rameset.com/images/13thCenturyToque%20w-barbette.jpg](http://www.rameset.com/images/13thCenturyToque%20w-barbette.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-article-of-clothing/568976/8 "2011-01-26T01:14:38Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > That’s Mr Whipple ([Mr. Whipple - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Whipple))… ahhh, I saw what you did there. Whipple? Wasn’t he in that PBS series about The Bailey? ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-article-of-clothing/568976/9 "2011-01-26T01:22:44Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > That doesn’t seem to quite be it; what I’m thinking of makes the face look like they are looking through a cutout. ETA: unless what I’m thinking of is a sub-variety of wimple where the “framing” of the face is much tighter than some. I think what you mean is still a wimple, but the way you wear it really makes a difference. For instance: [http://www.flickr.com/photos/borichar/3390167976/](http://www.flickr.com/photos/borichar/3390167976/) ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-article-of-clothing/568976/10 "2011-01-26T01:29:00Z")
Wimple, it used to be issued to female soldiers with their raincoat. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-article-of-clothing/568976/11 "2011-01-26T01:36:43Z")
Ok, wimple it seems to be. Thanks all! ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-article-of-clothing/568976/12 "2011-01-27T06:33:29Z")
Did you hear about the nun who left her headdress at the convent when she got her new haircut? She went out not with a wimple, but some bangs. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-article-of-clothing/568976/13 "2011-01-27T07:49:46Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Did you hear about the nun who left her headdress at the convent when she got her new haircut? She went out not with a wimple, but some bangs. You can get away with that once or twice, but don’t get into the habit. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-article-of-clothing/568976/14 "2011-01-27T14:23:10Z")
A coif. The wimple went over the coif. Nuns seem to have competed as to who could wear the most layers of clothing. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-this-article-of-clothing/568976/15 "2011-01-27T14:26:50Z")
Unless you’re Robert Browning, in which case the word is “twat” > [@](#): > > Robert Browning, the Victorian poet, read some lines from a 17th-century satire called “Vanity of Vanities” that read: “They talkd of him having a Cardinall’s Hat/ They’d send him as soon an old Nun’s Twat” and assumed it meant an item of nun’s dress, like a wimple. So he put it into his poem “Pippa Passes” in the lines: “Then owls and bats,/Cowls and twats/Monks and nuns in a cloister’s moods…” Generations of oafish schoolboys have laughed at his mistake. As some lexical pedants may now be laughing at Mr Cameron. > **[John Walsh: Only a t\*\*\* would not know the meaning of the word](https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/columnists/john-walsh/john-walsh-only-a-t-would-not-know-the-meaning-of-the-word-1764688.html)** > > Just as David Cameron missed the point last year about the song "Eton Rifles" by The Jam (it's not, in fact, a recruiting hymn to the school cadet force, as Paul Weller had to explain to him), he now fails to realise that one doesn't use the word... > **[Language Log: More on Browning, Pippa and all](http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001814.html)**