The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-02-27
ORIGIN OF THE CUFF.
How This Small Article of Mans APP
pnreI Came Into Vogue.

From the London Globe.
About the end of the faraway seven
ties there was a comic song which had
a great vogue In which the singer an
nounced, after the fashion of the day,
with much emphasis and repetition, that
ginning of that decade that the great
white shirt cuff. as we know 1t now,
came into vogue, for before that time
the cuff had been softer and not so stiff
and starched. 1t was supposed to be a
sign of great dandyism, like the tall col
lar. and caused much innocent amuse-
ment to those who saw in 1t only SYM
Dol Of superfiuous cleanliness, a thing
which, in certain grades Of society and
among a peculiar brand of the music
hall comedian, has always been a legiti-
mate subject for wit. The starched cuff
is the twin brother of the starched collar,
and Captain Cuff was, Of course held to
be a carpet knight, because he was par
ticular about his linen.
No one knows why cuff Is so called,
except because it could not very we'll be
called anything else, just like York
err The original meaning of cuff ap-
pears to be a covering for tho hand,
which. like mitten, left the fingers free.
and In fact it used to be a synonym for
what we now know as a mitten. Then
the word was transferred to the loose
end of the coat sleeve which covered the
base OF the hand, and could be turned
back to leave the wrist free, and thus 1t
assumed the meaning which we now
ascribe to it. The term was easy TO APP
ply to the shirt sleeve, which also fell
over the hand and could be turned back
when 1t was In the way. In fact, so en-
tirely has the shirt sleeve usurped the
word cuff that unless 1t is particularly
stated to be coat cuff, the expression
is always considered to refer to the shirt
and the shit only. And while talking
about the meaning OF the word, 1t is
worth noting that, though the etymology
of the substantive cuff is unknown, the
verb cuff is said to be derived from
"kuffa," to thrust or push forward. a
meaning which clearly foreshadowed
among our remote ancestors the phrase
shooting the cuffs" or they might quite
possibly have put it, 'huffing the cuffs"
II they had had any to shoot.
The original form of the shirt cuff was,
of course, the simple band fastened at
the wrist, to which the dandies attached
those beautiful lace rufflies which held
SWAY for so many years, and which
formed so elegant II impractical, finish
to the sleeve. To Puritan times We owe
the plain white shirt cuff. which was
turned. back over the cuff of the coat
and was Just as easily soied. and moth
ing like so splendid as the lace cuff or
ruffle. 1t Is, therefore, not surprising
that the lace ruffle held its own Tor many
years, and was the only alternative to
the plain linen band which found SO great
favor in the days of the Georges among
all but the veriest butterflies of fash
ion But the Puritan cuff was not done
for, and 1t came in again after the
French revolution, though 1t only began
to be properly starched in the earlier
years. of the late queens reign But the
cuff declined when the athletic period
of the fifties and, sixties came in. and it
was not until the seventies that the mod
ern cuff in all its glory was invented. 1t
soon became a necessary portion of the
wardrobe and the idea of a man wearing
a colored cum, or colored shirt, except
when engaged in some game, was quite
unthlnkable.