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World Wide Words: Haberdasher |
 | | One of my American dictionaries, in making clear the ways in which this word is used in different places, uses two words that sound mildly odd in Britain. |
 | | In the USA, it says, a haberdasher sells men’s furnishings (such as shirts, ties, gloves, socks, and hats); in the UK, he or she sells small wares and notions (such as buttons, needles, ribbons, and thread). |
 | | This substantial divergence in sense reflects the muddled history of this odd-looking word, which in origin has nothing whatever to do with anybody dashing anywhere. |
| www.worldwidewords.org /weirdwords/ww-hab1.htm (352 words) |
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