The Corduroy Appreciation Club Cordulog
11|11 Grand Meeting, 2009
Esteemed Member of The Corduroy Appreciation Club,
The Corduroy Appreciation Club shall convene on the date which most closely resembles Corduroy, November 11th, 11|11. Here are the particulars and secret location of our meeting:
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Hilarious BEST SELLING AUTHOR of I Was Told There’d Be Cake, SLOANE CROSLEY!
$11.11 (A price which resembles Corduroy). Please Purchase here at this time.
THE GARAGE at THE OLD AMERICAN CAN FACTORY
232 THIRD STREET • BROOKLYN, NY 11215 (map)
Corduroy Club Symbols will lead you through the labyrinth deep into factory.
DOORS OPEN 7 PM • MEETING COMMENCES 8:11 PM SHARP
- The Main Squeeze Accordion Orchestra
- Princeton University Scholar Deborah Kaple reading NPR 3 Minute Corduroy Fiction
- Revealing of Corduroy Club iPhone Application
- An opportunity to purchase Bonobo’s Corduroy Pants at a discounted price
- Awards for Exemplary Usage of Corduroy
- Awards for Best Dressed Presented by CORDAROUNDS
- Strange Rituals
- Six Point Craft Beer
- And…a ROUSING Barnburning SPEECH BY YOUR PRESIDENT, Miles Rohan
Please purchase your admission as soon as possible so that we may know how many people to expect and have everything in order for your arrival.
TWO CORDUROY ITEM RULE IN EFFECT
NO PHOTOGRAPHY DURING SECRET RITUALS
Download attractive invitation here.
HAIL THE WALE!
111109 Keynote Speaker Selected: Sloane Crosley
Absolutely thrilled and honored to announce that Sloan Crosley will be the keynote speaker at our 1111 Grand Meeting on Wednesday, 1111 09 Sloane is completely hilarious and the author or the NYTIMES best seller, I was Told There’d Be Cake, which has been optioned for a series on HBO! Cannot wait! More details coming very soon, because, well, the meeting is VERY soon. More info on Sloane Crosley here:
http://sloanecrosley.com/
11|11 Draws Nigh!
The Date which Most Closely Resembles Corduroy looms near! It’s 10 days from today! Are you ready? We’re not, exactly, but tremendous preparations are underway for celebration of this most important day for members of The Corduroy Appreciation Club and Corduroy lovers the world over. A Grand Meeting will occur in Brooklyn, NY. Details accumulating and an official communiqué is forthcoming. HAIL THE WALE!
Rare Video Footage of Corduroy Club President Released
The website revelinnewyork.com has released an excellent video about The Corduroy Appreciation Club featuring the reclusive and mysterious founder of the organization, Miles Rohan. Note, it would appear that The Founder is wearing a wig, of sorts, to disguise himself. What else could explain that which sprouts from his head? Lots of other wonderful interviews elsewhere on the site. Thank you Revel IN!
Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Blip.tv video.Corduroy and The Double Life is Twice as Good
It is a great honor to have an essay about the Corduroy Appreciation Club appear in Jonathan Ames’ new collection, The Double Life is Twice as Good. Obviously Jonathan’s account of his time at our 2007 meeting is the best part of the book, but everything else (that I’ve read thus far) is very good as well.
Twittering. yes, we are.
Follow the fascinating ups and downs, err…wales and races of the Corduroy Appreciation Club on Twitter. Corduroyclub is our username.
Emergency Meeting 3|11|09
In these uncertain times, Corduroy is a symbol of resilience and comfort. Due to a variety of circumstances, a meeting of The Corduroy Appreciation Club has not occurred in 13 months. Yet we remain a powerful force and voice for Corduroy and Corduroy Appreciation across the globe. Good souls continue to join our organization every day. We must keep the movement going. Ergo, let us convene on a date which resembles Corduroy, 3|11, to chart a course for a bountiful future. Here are some items to ruminate upon:
- Formation of a Board of Directors so that tasks (event planning, membership, merchandise, website maintenance) may not fall upon the Corduroy clad shoulders of one.
- Selecting of Regional Officers to support our global expansion
- Development of a charitable arm of the club
- Fundraising, sponsorships and partnerships
- Recruitment and membership drives
More details will follow in the coming weeks. Due to location of CAC HQ in New York, the meeting will likely occur there, but surely in this age of the shrinking globe we should be able to evade the constraints of obstacles like oceans, space and time.
All suggestions and ideas are welcome. HAIL THE WALE!
Yours,
Miles Rohan
Founder
Cord of the King, We Are Not
The Hindu Online, India’s National Newspaper, which I always peruse, recently published a sound dissection of the origin of a word that is among the most hotly contested in etymological circles. What word, you ask, is that?
Corduroy, the familiar durable fabric, has no known linguistic parents though it is said to be the offspring of many a word. Folk etymology has it as originating from French ‘corde du roi’ (cord of the King), but in French the term for the cloth is velours À côtes.
French lineage?
The OED assertion that an 1807 French list of manufactured fabrics included the English words ‘kings-cordes’ cast doubt on fabric’s French lineage. Since the term first appeared in American English in 1787, and ‘cord’ is used for a specific quantity of cut wood, a stack of cut wood could have led to the thick strong cotton cloth (duroy) with thin raised lines on it being called corduroy.
Corde is from Latin corda, meaning string, hence an electric cord. Duroy was a type of rough woollen cloth made in England (17-19 centuries). Therefore someone with active imagination could have called duroy that was ribbed as corduroy. Another possible explanation is that when corduroy was first made from silk, some enterprising manufacturer with a surname Corderoy (there is such a surname) named it after himself as a sales or promotion gimmick.
Neglected, of course, are thoughts on exactly where Corduroy the fabric, regardless of name, came from. I subscribe to the Fustian theory which suggests Corduroy was from ancient Egypt. But as far as the name, Corduroy, I like to think there was just somebody named Corduroy.
Corduroy is referred to as a “lesser” fabric at one point, which is unfortunate, but please read the article in it’s entirety here. If you can wade through all the garbage about velvet, there’s a good bit on satin, which seems has always reminded me of Satan, but that’s another story.
Lastly, to all you know-it-alls out there, who simply cannot resist telling me the following: “Are you aware that Corduroy was the kings cloth? Yep. It was worn by French royalty!” PLEASE. Just. Stop.
Among Other Wonderful Attributes of Paul Newman
I don’t have the proper words or abilities to adequately articulate the loss of Paul Newman and I’m not so sure I should try. But since his passing, I’ve received many photographs of him wearing Corduroy. I wanted to share one. It’s him and Joanne Woodward reading a script and they’re both in Corduroy pants. Paul Newman always seemed like such a kind, curious, appreciative and civil person. I think he was one we could all take inspiration from. It’s always seemed very right to me that Paul Newman was Corduroy appreciator.
Corduroy Wearing Bolivian Ambassador Expelled from U.S.
Friend of the Corduroy Appreciation Club and Bolivian Ambassador to the U.S., Gustavo Guzmán, was asked to depart our fair shores last week. His Excellency was told to leave just days after Bolivia expelled U.S. Ambassador Philip S. Goldberg. Bolivian President Evo Morales accused Goldberg of encouraging violence in the country amid fierce debate over natural gas revenues and land redistribution plans. Read, in much greater eloquence and depth about the terrible turmoil in Bolivia here.
In 2006, I invited Ambassador Guzman to attended the 1111 meeting after high-level beltway sources reported he was wearing Corduroy to important meetings in Washington D.C. Not surprisingly he had other matters to attend to that 1111. But he did send us this kind and inspiring note below. I wish him the very best.
Liberty and its exercise take various forms, and they can occur in
every space imaginable. For example, true art is only explained by
the determined passion of liberation. Many are the instances in which
exercising liberty also brings the equally vital exercise of
provocation. To all this must be added a good dose of aesthetics, and
it is here we refer to the magnificent fabric of liberty and of
provocation, corduroy.Enjoy your celebration, and may we meet someday soon.
Warm Regards,
His Excellency Gustavo Guzmán
Ambassador of Bolivia
Washington, D.C.
As some may know, Bolivia has a special place in my heart and was the site of my “Corduroy vision,” which lead to the founding of the CAC.
-Miles Rohan
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