The Mighty Anorak

[PeteC]

I could have put this in education but best to spare that section I guess. Oxford Press, Grade 1 level 3 reader, "Jan's Anorak". They must be mad at Oxford Press. First off it's not an anorak pictured, but a sweater jacket. An anorak to me is a huge waterproof thing worn by Eskimos or arctic explorers. It's not a sweater jacket, a hooded sweatshirt, or a plastic hooded rain jacket. I also understand in the UK it's a term used to describe a nerd or similar. It's not even a British english word, but from a Greenland Eskimo dialect. Why in the world the British educational system feels it's important for a Grade 1 pupil to learn this word is beyond me. However, it is quite important to have one or two here in Thailand so I'm told.

[Amarita]

In Norway we use the word anorak as a way
to describe a jacket with a hood to keep the
wind away. It is often made of cotton. We usually
have 2 or 3 layers underneath, and most common
is wool closest to the body.
I dont know if this is the same anorak you are
talking about ?

[STEVE G]

Pete, I think that reader must be either old, or written by someone who is getting on a bit.
In the seventies in the UK, an 'anorak' was a pretty nasty, cheap quilted hooded nylon jacket that your mother bought you to wear over your school uniform in the winter.
I suppose the name originally came from stories of Arctic explorers but the garment itself was a sad imitation that wouldn't keep you warm for ten minutes in serious weather.
By the eighties and nineties an 'anorak' was a derogatary term as the only people still wearing them were those type of people who still look like they're being dressed by their mothers when they're about 35 and indulge in strange hobbies like train-spotting.

I've even found a picture of one:

[PeteC]

I think you may have hit on it Steve. The Anorak book is back at school now but I just looked at the readers she brought home for weekend work. All originally published in the early 80's with current printing in 2003-05. Pete

[Super Joe]

And to add to the embarassment of having to wear it to school, your Mum would always sew your name inside it, to stop you 'accidentally' losing it.

If you zoom into Steve's picture, you can maybe just make out.....

seventies%20anorak.jpg (136.44 KiB) Viewed 471 times

SJ

[pharvey]

Dwayne Dibley.......... The ultimate Anorak

[Spitfire]

Yeah, a classic "anorak" type would include train spotters.