Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Word Wednesday - Fop

fop \FOP\, noun:
A man who is overly concerned with or vain about his dress and appearance; a dandy.

He's swaddled in a heavy black wool overcoat and his shoes are silver-buckled with cap toes, the black leather well taken care of. He's a bit of a lounge lizard, a hip-hop fop.-- Po Bronson, The Nudist on the Late Shift

I included the line for the book because it so amused me. A think of fop as an old word. It is from a Middle English word. You know Middle English. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Because I was in Honors English in high school we read them untranslated. In the original Middle English. I actually found it enjoyable. An adventure.
Yeah, I'm an English Nerd.
Anyway, fop is a word that would be used to describe many metrosexuals. I know a guy who always has every hair in place. He's a medic, but his uniform is impeccable. Not a wrinkle to be found. I once saw him with his shirt untucked. It was so odd to me.
I guess in some ways he'd be a fop.
I cannot see myself using this word as I don't write historicals.
Do you know any modern day fops?

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