Corduroy
Categories: Streets and roads | Textiles
Corduroy is a fabric comprised of twisted fibers that when woven lay parallel (similar to twill) to one another to form the cloth's distinct pattern, a "cord." Modern corduroy is most commonly composed of tufted cords, sometimes exhibiting a channel (bare to the base fabric) between the tufts. (The word corduroy can be used as a noun, a transitive verb or an adjective.)
As a fabric, corduroy is considered a durable cloth. Socially, the clothes made from corduroy are considered casual, and are usually favored in colder climates during seasonal periods. Corduroy is most commonly found in the construction of trousers. The material is also used in the construction of (sport) jackets and shirts. The width of the cord is commonly referred to as "wale"; the size of the wale. The width of the wale makes some uses more common than others. Wide wale is more commonly found on trousers; medium, narrow and fine wale fabrics are usually found in garments used above the waist.
Corduroy road
A Corduroy road or log road is a type of road made by placing sand-covered logs perpendicular to the direction of the road over a low or swampy area. The result is an improvement over impassable mud or dirt roads, yet is a bumpy ride in the best of conditions and a hazard to horses due to loose logs that can roll and shift. This type of road was already constructed in Roman times. Compare puncheon or plank road, which uses hewn boards instead of logs, resulting in a smoother and safer surface.
Corduroy roads can also be built as a foundation for other surfacing. For example, the Alaska Highway between Burwash Landing and Koidern, Yukon, was rebuilt in 1943, less than a year after the original route was graded on thin soil and vegetation over permafrost, by using corduroy, then building gravel road over top. During the 1980s, the gravel was itself covered with a chip-seal of tar and stones to produce an analog of a paved road. During the late 1990s, this corduroy-underlain road began to be replaced with modern road construction, including rerouting of the entire highway.
In a slang application, "Corduroy Road" can also apply to a road in ill repair, having many holes, discernible ruts, or surface swellings and one on which travel is unpleasant, or capable of harming the vehicles travelling on it.
Corduroy the book
Corduroy is a book by Don Freeman published by Viking Press tells the story of the title character, a teddy bear who is bought by a girl called Lisa. Several books have followed that feature the teddy bear, including Corduroy's Toys and Corduroy Goes To School.
Corduroy was adapted into a 26 episode cartoon in 2000 by Nelvana Limited. In 2005, it aired daily on Tiny Pop in the UK. More information about each episode is available at The Big Cartoon Database's entry.
Corduroy by Adrian Bell was published in England in 1930 and forms the first part of a farming trilogy now regarded as a countryside classic. It’s an account of an apprenticeship on a Suffolk farm just after World War One. The Penguin Books paperback edition came out in 1940 and was much prized by soldiers serving during the Second World War. Adrian Bell was the father of UK journalist and politician Martin Bell.
Narrow humorous appeal
As a subject in humor, corduroy is believed to have limited application and is generally considered to be unfunny. There are exceptions, however, such as a routine by Bill Cosby and the following joke.
Corduroy is the one-word punch line to a notorious Helen Keller joke, wherein it is asserted—via a question and answer format, often to uproariously comic effect—that corduroy is her favorite color. A common variant of this purportedly tasteless—though, arguably, effective—attempt at humor mistakenly substitutes the word "plaid" for "corduroy". This is an elementary error, of course, as it misses the joke's original intention, failing to appreciate that it is corduroy's tactile quality—and plaid's comparative lack thereof—which, vis-à-vis Keller's blindness (her defining feature, no less), serves as the premise for the gag.
As a mere word (as opposed to a full-fledged subject), corduroy is also an exception to the well-known theory of comedy that words containing the K sound (e.g., Alka-Seltzer, chicken, pickle) are inherently funny; this exception further reinforces corduroy's narrow humorous appeal. (This theory is dramatized in Neil Simon's play The Sunshine Boys in a scene in Act I in which the comedian Willy, lectures his non-comedian nephew Ben on the subject.)ja:コーデュロイ