h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Duffel Coats - A824672
Author: Ashley Reeves - U182095

Hi I'm Ashley Reeves.

I'm starting a little project. It's called "Get The People Wearing Duffel Coats 2002/2003"

Please help me meet my objective of getting one person in every major town and city to stand with a poster saying "I Wear A Duffel Coat And I Am Proud". There will be a website available.

Thank you. Enjoy duffel coats, for they are woollen.

Ashley.

It's interesting that the duffle coat can be zip up. I always thought the shark-tooth buttons were an essential element of the duffle. And are they not called 'toggles'?

Montague Trout

I think the most important thing about the Duffel is the lining. Tartan is always a good option but are they all Royal Stewart(or is it Stuart) Tartan. Can you get one, for example, with a Buchanan Tartan?

Also, I think some reference to famous historical and cultural incidents of duffle-coat wearing might be a useful aside.

e.g., Paddington, the peruvian Michael Bond bear. Michael Foot, British politician of sorts from the late 1970s also seems to have been a duffle-coat wearer. Moreover, I wouldn't mind betting on Patrick Moore, the exuberant xylophone-playing astronomer having one tucked away in a cupboard under the stairs.

So Ashley, my advice is for you to look through some archive photos, and try to find some famous duffle-coats. This has all the makings of a fine entry my friend.

Ah, and the spelling. Duffel, not Duffle. I have learned something today - the guide scores again. Note, Duffel-coat, duffel-bag, etc. are toponyms derived from the Belgian town of Duffel.

Dr Montague Trout

Yes, there is also the military Duffel which you can see being artfully displayed by Trevor Howard in that film, what was it called, er oh yeah, The Third Man

Hi actually, (and don't call me Ashely!)

I'd been avoiding this entry due to an exaggerated hatred of the duffel-coat instilled in my during my school years. They were compulsory attire in certain conditions (no doubt for admirable reasons) and it became a 'thing' that you had to avoid wearing them at all costs.

None-the-less, here i am, having read your piece, and i liked it very much.

Not really what the edited guide is all about, as it stands, but a nice read.

I like the idea of doing a section on 'famous duffel coats', too. You have some good ideas to get started. Worth a thought, imo.

all the best with this and future writings
spiff

Uncle Albert, the salty old sea-dog in BBC's Only Fools and Horses used to wear one. With a hood. Is the hood essential?

If you remember the famous Michael Foot incident at the Cenotaph. They accused him of turning up in a Donkey Jacket. The Builders Association made him an honorary member and sent him a Donkey Jacket. But Michael said it was a hoodless Duffel and could see nothing wrong with that.I think some of the female Royals, like Princess Anne, have dallied with the DC.

I always think of duffel coats as being grey. All my friends at uni in the'70s had grey duffles, shark's teeth and no hoods.

Nice guide entry in the making here.

Yes, on colour, I'd have thought 'camel' would be to duffel-coats what postbox red is to Ferrari

I'd forgotten camel. I can see an argument brewing on when is a duffel really a duffel. I had a long discussion recently with someone who wanted to know when denim really was denim. It came down to the weave in the end. Apparently. It has to be two wefts to one waft. (Or something )

Which all goes to prove the need for this guide entry.

Just checked the big dictionary - as I suspected duffle is the 'normal' spelling in English and duffel is a variation, other than the other way round.

It refers to the cloth, being 'coarse wollen with a thick nap', whatever that means.

Hopefully Ashley Reeves will elucidate.

'coarse wollen with a thick nap' that covers a multitude of ..... horseblankets. Sometimes dictionaries are not over helpful.

Mine says duffle (or duffel) ~ coat, coat made of duffle, especially one with hood and toggle fastenings.

See, it's a toggle. Shark's tooth pah!

Has anybody ever owned a duffel bag that was actually made of duffel?

Probably. But it wasn't me.

Well let me just start by saying for my first ever Guide Entry I had no idea I would get such a positive response from people...thanks!

I'll try to answer as many questions as possible; firstly, I think the spelling should remain as "Duffel", it's the way I always thought it was spelt, and I feel it still shall!

*Yes, there such things as "zip" duffels, although these tend to be your more modern duffels', circa 1990 onwards.
*Indeed, the lining does vary, my own duffel coat does not have a classy lining, and so that musky rain smell goes ALL the way through! Tartan is a very needy addition!
*Toggles/Buttons, apoligies for calling them "shark's teeth", it's an old habbit that me and my girlfriend call them.
*CAMEL! Now there's a colour if I've ever seen one!

Thanks for all those peeps who recommend this goes in the Guide!

Any more questions, fire away. I'll start work on a revised version of this Guide Entry, and to be honest - I feel as if perhaps this should go into the Edited Guide, with a little help from you guys!

The world shall know - there are Duffel wearers out there, we shall be known, we shall prevail!

Ash

You're dead right there's a place in thr Guide for this. Keep up the good work.

Mont

I love duffles. What an excellent topic for a guide entry. The great advantage of mine was that, while all my other coats gor nicked at uni, my duffle was always there to fall back on. Suirprisingly, noone seemed to want it...

I think the idea about famous duffle wearers is a good one. Gotta have Paddington. Also, where did the idea come from? Was it originally a new style fashion thing, or was it developed for other reasons, like denim?

Let the research begin...

hark! the sound of Duffel wearers' (collectively known herefore as "Duffelers") approachs!

Ash