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		Ask for help > Shirt or Blouse?     
			
		 Shirt or Blouse? 
		
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 Anna P
 
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							| Shirt or Blouse? 
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							| I have a question about the words blouse and shirt.  One of my students told me that the Cambridge exam would only consider the word shirt, and not blouse.   For me, a blouse is a more feminine version of shirt, although shirts can also be used by women.  I googled some definitions and one of the best was "if your mother wears it it �s a blouse.  If you wear it it �s a shirt".   As a grandmother it seems that I should be wearing blouses  ! What do you think?  Should I continue teaching the word blouse for a feminine and frilly shirt or simply stick to the word shirt? 
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 savuth
 
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							| Blouse is looser than shirt. the boy/girls are small so they wear shirt. your mother is BiG, so she sould wear blouse. and you either.  |  12 Dec 2013     
					
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 nombasa
 
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							| In the past blouses were worn by women and shirts by men.  Nowadays blouses are still never worn by men but women wear shirts if they are smarter and perhaps plainer, but more often now the word shirt is being used by both men and women. |  12 Dec 2013     
					
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 Jayho
 
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							| Hi Anna   Traditionally, a blouse is a shirt for women and both the Macmillan and Oxford online dictionaries share this definition.  Therefore, I think you should stick to blouse. Yes often ladies blouses are referred to as shirts so it pays for students to be aware of both definitions.   In the land downunder and UK, there is a humorous idiom relating to blouses - see here.  Savuth, I haven �t heard your definition before.   Cheers   Jayho           |  12 Dec 2013     
					
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 Redbull
 
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							| As Jayho says..... A blouse is a woman �s shirt but mainly for the older ladies out there. Today by young girls they would say girls shirt. So using both are correct. 
 @ Jayho, without clicking or looking at the link, would I be right..... in that the idiom is (You are a girls blouse) = a man who acts like a little girl?
 
 REDBULL GIVES YOU WINGS YOU KNOW
  . |  12 Dec 2013     
					
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 Anna P
 
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							| Thanks so much for your answers.  I �ll save them to share with my student.   |  12 Dec 2013     
					
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 teachertonyinchina
 
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							| A blouse has buttons on the left, as a shirt has buttons on the right. |  13 Dec 2013     
					
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