The GREAT BRITISH DUFFEL COAT thread

[Ticklishchap]

Further complications: I have just come across a US definition of Bench Warmer or Benchwarmer as a reserve player. This makes sense and certainly sound collegiate: presumably the poor man would wear a Duffel Coat as he sat forlornly hoping to be called. ...

 

[David Conwill]

The duffle/duffel bit has tripped me up as well. Something I never realized until they caught my fancy recently! I do wish my grandfather (a college athlete in the '30s who died 25 years ago today) was around to ask.

 

[Ticklishchap]

The duffle/duffel bit has tripped me up as well. Something I never realized until they caught my fancy recently! I do wish my grandfather (a college athlete in the '30s who died 25 years ago today) was around to ask.

I must see if I can find out more about the Duffel/Duffle spelling.
Maybe your grandfather could also have told us about the term Benchwarmer (or Bench Warmer). I never came across it in school and university sports but I like the ‘reserve player’ definition. Certainly watching matches could be cold; I recall wearing thick wool sweaters beneath my Duffel coat (Commando sweaters [Woolly Pullies], Guernseys or Submariners - I still wear all of these and have a thread on FL about the first of them].
Was your grandfather an American Football player? Seems even more painful than Rugger!

 

[Ticklishchap]

The duffle/duffel bit has tripped me up as well. Something I never realized until they caught my fancy recently! I do wish my grandfather (a college athlete in the '30s who died 25 years ago today) was around to ask.

I meant also to add my condolences on this anniversary of your grandfather's death.

 

[David Conwill]

My paternal grandfather played basketball for Grinnell College in 1937-'38 (probably '36-'37 as well) and semi-professional baseball up through 1940. My maternal grandfather was a high-school (American) football star who was supposedly offered a chance to play for the Chicago Bears in the early 1930s but declined to get married instead. He was also a boxer--Golden Gloves, I'm told, though I don't really know what that means. Both were big sports fans for their entire lives.

And thank you, I was 11 when he passed and it was devastating at the time. The intervening quarter century has mellowed the emotions, though, and I am just glad I got to spend the time with him I did. My other grandfather died when I was not quite four, so I don't really have any memories of him.

 

[Ticklishchap]

My paternal grandfather played basketball for Grinnell College in 1937-'38 (probably '36-'37 as well) and semi-professional baseball up through 1940. My maternal grandfather was a high-school (American) football star who was supposedly offered a chance to play for the Chicago Bears in the early 1930s but declined to get married instead. He was also a boxer--Golden Gloves, I'm told, though I don't really know what that means. Both were big sports fans for their entire lives.

And thank you, I was 11 when he passed and it was devastating at the time. The intervening quarter century has mellowed the emotions, though, and I am just glad I got to spend the time with him I did. My other grandfather died when I was not quite four, so I don't really have any memories of him.

It does sound as if your grandfather, although he unfortunately died when you were but a lad of 11, was a great role model for you and a true gentleman. Thank you for your very inspiring post.

Did you follow in his footsteps and play baseball?

 

[David Conwill]

I played baseball until I was 12 or 13 but never had any talent for it--I was a career right fielder who couldn't throw and couldn't hit. Only as an adult do I have the kind of coordination and stamina that would have been necessary for athletic prowess as a youngster. I am, in fact, a benchwarmer!

My grandfather was a great role model, though, a career USAF officer and a wonderful husband and father to my dad. I think of him often now that I am married and have children and a career of my own.

No pics of grandpa in a duffel coat here, but three of them showing his athletic side. The top right photo shows him at a train station with other members of the Grinnell Pioneers.

 

[Ticklishchap]

Those are very beautiful photographs. Thank you. Baseball looks a difficult game - it’s got some things in common with Cricket but seems much faster-moving. I had several American friends at university (doing their Junior Year Abroad) who were keen on it and it has strong roots in American culture, including art and literature.
Please forgive me but I hadn’t heard of Grinnell and must learn more about it.

 

[David Conwill]

Please forgive me but I hadn’t heard of Grinnell and must learn more about it.

No worries. Grinnell isn't well known even here in the States. If I ever get to Iowa, I'll visit.

 

[Ticklishchap]

No worries. Grinnell isn't well known even here in the States. If I ever get to Iowa, I'll visit.

I shall certainly look up Grinnell. I shall also find time to research the Duffel/Duffle alternate spellings.

 

[Ticklishchap]

Honestly, if you want a coat that seals up well in bad weather, then a duffle coat is not the best choice. Toggles and a hood without drawstring are not ideal.

... And yet it is those features that give the Duffel Coat it’s distinctive style - and which I particularly liked when I wore Duffel Coats as a younger man. The toggles really did it for me for some reason. Must start wearing Duffel Coats again!

 

[Ticklishchap]

Going back to Doctor Damage’s point: I found that wearing a Duffel Coat kept me warm , indeed enveloped me, but the toggles and hood enabled the Coat to ‘breathe’. I most often wore Duffel Coats as a student to watch matches that for whatever reason I wasn’t playing in. I would wear the Duffel with a thick sweater underneath, usually a Commando Sweater (Woolly Pully) or a Guernsey - or a cream or Navy Submariner’s sweater if it was really cold. It was very comfortable as well as being a good look.

 

[Doctor Damage]

I shall also find time to research the Duffel/Duffle alternate spellings.

You can spend your time how you like, but I suspect it's nothing more than (literally) an alternative spelling based on different languages using the same word. Although the Royal Navy popularized the coats by adopting them as over-overcoats for wear in winter, they were around long before that and not just in the UK.

 

[Ticklishchap]

You can spend your time how you like, but I suspect it's nothing more than (literally) an alternative spelling based on different languages using the same word. Although the Royal Navy popularized the coats by adopting them as over-overcoats for wear in winter, they were around long before that and not just in the UK.

You’re absolutely right: luckily I’m self-employed rather than a wage slave and so I can organise my time as I like! However I’m not going to spend a vast amount of time on this but I’d like to see if I can learn more about the alternative spelling. Being British I know well the Naval history of the Duffel Coat which you have summarised so clearly.

 

[Ticklishchap]

I have been away for a few days and will return to this thread early in the week.

 

[Doctor Damage]

Please post what you do find out about the origin of the word, which I think I have read will be related to the cloth more than the style of coat. When it comes to clothing history there is unfortunately a lot of obscurity and mis-use of terminology.

 

[Doctor Damage]

 

[Doctor Damage]

article:
https://ospreypublishing.com/blog/photographs-from-a-life-in-the-royal-navy/

 

[Ticklishchap]

I'm afraid I've been drawing a blank on the Duffel/Duffle spelling difference, except to say that as a general rule 'Duffle' is applied to bags, 'Duffel' to coats (the design and material of the coat seem to originate in Brabant, which is now part of Belgium). 'Duffle' is also a variant spelling of the coat, but I think it is either simply a misspelling or an attempt at Anglicisation. I think that the 'Duffle Bag' might have originated in the USA.

 

[l0fielectronic]

I noticed Gloverall have a selection of Duffels in their outlet at the moment including a more modern 'Technical' version. Not sure on the styling of that one myself but something there may be of interest.

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