Do you usually refer to this kind of shirt as a "button-up" or a "button-down"?
And in related news, do you think this cup is half empty or half full?
Please leave both your answers in the comments section. Thank you.
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89 comments:
button down and half full
Button-up and half full!
I've never understood "half-empty." I mean, I get it as a metaphor for pessimism. But who ever thinks of the negation of something when faced with its positive? The cup is only half empty if you think the natural state of a cup is to be full. But really, a cup is usually empty. So any liquid, especially sweet, sweet vodka, is a bonus.
Button down. But I don't get the term. For a long time I thought it meant shirts with button down collars only, but oh no - that would make too much sense.
Button down and is that vodka?
I say button up and irrelevant since I don't drink water. Half empty I guess if I need to choose.
Button down, half full
i have always said button-up.
and i think the nature of the glass depends on its starting position. if freshly taken from the cupboard and that much liquid was added, it's half-full. if it was a full glass and that much was removed, it's half empty.
either way, if it's alky-hol, i'll have some. :)
I refer to them as oxfords, but if I had to pick one, I'd say button up. I'm a half-full kinda girl!
Button down.
Half full, which clearly means I'm a bright sunshiney optimist who likes to frolic in meadows with unicorns, UNLESS you take into account the nagging neurotic suspicion that the cup is half full of a scentless, tasteless, colorless poison powder. Which it probably is.
Well I just call it a shirt, but then I'm British I guess.
I say button down, glass half full and toilet paper should roll over the top.
The shirt is a button down; not sure why.
The glass is hard knowing the implications about my character that come with each answer. It also depends on the liquid and how much I want to drink it. If I like it, it would be half empty; if I don't it seems half full.
A button-down shirt has buttons on the collar, which this one doesn't. Having buttons down (or up) the front of the shirt are part of the definition of a "shirt."
For the glass, I like EvaNadine's explanation.
Button-front, but only since I was told that "button-down" actually refers only to the ones that have a "button-down" collar. Pedantic, right?
button-up for women
button-down for men
problem solved.
Down & full!
Guys wear button-down shirts and women wear button-up shirts.
And that glass is definitely half-something, but I'm not sure which.
button up
half full
Button down and half full.
Not sure why. hahaha.
Button up, though I must admit that I always button from the top down.
And it all depends on how the drink got that way. If it was filled halfway or if it was emptied halfway.
Button-up and half full if it's been filled halfway, half empty if it used to be full and has been drunk/poured out to be at that level.
Button Down!
The glass is empty, I drank it all.
So, we Button Up people seem to be in the minority! Think it's a geographical thing? I'm from the Pac-NW..
The glass is half full. Why? Because it's fewer syllables and quicker to say :)
Oddly enough, "button-down" but "half full" - I'm a complex woman. Er...my complexity might end there.
Button down and half full. :D
Button down and half full :)
I think it's because I always start buttoning with the top, and work down.
shirt: button-down. If you start from anywhere but the top it's likely to get all crooked and wonky.
glass: half empty (sorry). It just doesn't look evenly full!
Melissa
Yes and Yes from a Zen perspective
IHGP
Button up. I start on the bottom, and button up.
Half empty if it is water, half full if it is an adult beverage.
button down. yet i always start buttoning at the bottom. Hmm. Also, half full!
I would call it a 'shirt'. (I'm from New Zealand.) I think both 'button-up' and 'button-down' sound BIZARRE. If I wanted to be extremely specific I would call it a button-front shirt.
Glass half full . . ? I don't know, I'm over-thinking and second-guessing this question. First one was much easier! ;)
button down!! and half full. :)
I'm not really sure what I call a shirt like that. I think I say both. Haha.
Oh, and half full. :)
button up.
half empty.
what can i say, i'm an eternal pessimist.
I'm from the U.S. and I'm with Nadine, Helen, and Anonymous at 12: I say "shirt." "Button-down" refers to a specific type of collar: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dress_shirt#Collars
Whence "buttoned-down" to mean rigid or uptight.
I researched this Very Important Issue myself (http://bit.ly/96CE9) and concluded that it's a generational divide. At some point in the late 20th century, T-shirts became accepted as shirts rather than underwear, and suddenly those things with buttons needed extra identification.
1/3 full. It isn't symmetric, so since the water level is about 1/2 down the side, it must be less than 1/2 full. ;-)
Beth
1. It's a shirt. Neither button up or button down.
The default shirt is long-sleeved, buttons up the front, has a collar, and is made of woven fabric. Then you start qualifying:
t-shirt (knit fabirc, no button, shaped like a T)
blouse (fancier because it has extra fabric for more drape)
button-down (has buttons to hold the collar down)
short-sleeved (has short sleeves; must be accessorized with a tie and a photocopy machine manual)
tuxedo (pleat front, french cuffed, fastened with studs not buttons)
and so on.
2. Half-full? Half-empty? Who cares. The real question is: gin or vodka?
I refer to it as "the kind of shirt I hate to wear."
I call the shirt either an oxford or a collared shirt.
I call the glass "ooh, cocktails!"
Button up, I think button down refers to when the collar has buttons on the tips? Could be totally wrong.
If it is a fresh glass, half full (and why didn't they give me a full one??) If it is a glass I've been drinking out of, half empty. I guess its more about how it started than where it ended up?
WAIT! The glass started out empty. Therefore, anything in it must be considered a filling (like pie), so it is half full! Epiphany!
button up!
as far as half full/half empty, it really depends on how much i like the drink!
Button down refers to a shirt with collars that button to the shirt at the points.
so this would be a button up shirt.
My friend from London that is also a writer schooled me on the difference
On the glass: half full. Isn't it a bit presumptuous to think that the glass should have something in it by default? A glass is just a glass...putting something in it fills it up. Or displaces the air that comes with it, which then comes back after liquid leaves...so the glass is never technically EVER empty. This question is too much for me right now...
On the shirt, I call it a "button-up" but in practice I button down. So...I don't know. Again.
Tough questions today!
Button down, half empty. Because I think "half full" has too many f's in it.
I call it a button down. But I button it from the bottom up, it's faster and you are less likely to skip a hole and be all wonky. Learned that from Cheaper by the Dozen...the original not the Steve Martin one.
“Is the glass half full, or half empty? It depends on whether you're pouring, or drinking.” Bill Cosby quote
Button up and half full :)
up/full
Button down... cos you start at the top and button, well, down.
Half full, thanks to Julia's epiphany.
I would actually call it as collared shirt. But if I had to choose I'd say button up.
I've totally over-thought the half empty vs half full thing so I honestly can't answer. Wait, if there was beer in it I'd think "Yay, I still have some beer left!" So I guess that means half full.
I've always called it a button-FRONT, and for me the glass is always half full!
I'd say button down and half empty. You drank half of it, so there's less than before, thus getting closer to emptinness. Don't call me pessimistic. ;)
My mom told me that a button-down shirt is a specific kind of shirt - a men's shirt that has little buttons on the tips of the collar, that "button down" the tie. So technically, they're all button-ups, just not necessarily button-downs.
*adjusts nerd glasses and leaves*
Button down, half full. Though half full isn't necessarily for optimistic reasons, I just think that the description emphasizes the water in the cup, which is more important than the emptiness in the cup, which is probably implied.
I have no justification for button down, it just seems correct.
Button down and half full!
Button up. Half full.
I use button-up and button-down interchangeably. I usually just say "half a glass of water."
So I guess I'm just flip-flopper without a true stance. :/
I call it a dress shirt, but sometimes it gets referred to as a button down.
This post has made me thirsty! Forget the vodka, could that be tequila? That would make my day right now.
Button down... and half-full. It's Friday after all. You have to be optimistic about that!
Button-down.
Half-full. Or, if it has Diet Coke in it, empty.
Button up. Half full.
Button up and half full!
button-front, actually. A button-down is a man's shirt that has little buttons fastening the points of the collar to the front of the shirt.
Half full.
buttton up and half full
Oooo... an isogloss! You should really ask where people are from when you ask questions like that.
Gisele from Canada, and it's button-down.
Half full or half empty depends on which side of the bed I got up this morning.
Button up
Half Full
However I'm also the biggest pessimist you shall ever meet :)
Question one: button up
Question two: needs more vodka
button up, and half-empty... I like to mix it up.
It's a button-down shirt if it has a button-down collar. Otherwise, you button it up. And I think half full. Depends on my mood.
I call it a blouse. Even if it is for my brother.
As for the glass, I agree with Lorena. I would drink it all.
Unless it has alcahol, I don't touch that stuff.
Ezzy
The shirt:
Button-up if I had to pick. But generally, I just refer to them as "dress shirts". I'm pretty sure button-down is only the shirts that have two little buttons to hold the collar down (hence the name).
As for the glass:
Half-empty if it's tequila.
Half-full if it's water.
lol.
button down and half full ^_^
Depends on which direction you button, or whether you're pouring or drinking.
Button-up.
"An optimist will tell you the glass is half-full; the pessimist, half-empty; and I will tell you the glass is twice the size it needs to be."
Button up and half full.
Button down....That's so weird.
button down, half empty
button down shirt...although if I say it enough "button up" sounds right too.
If the glass was filled to halfway, it's half full. If it was filled completely, then someone took water out, it's half empty.
If it's just sitting there and I don't know what stage it's in, I say half empty.
Button-down and half-empty.
Button down, half empty
Button up, cause I wanna stay up! And half full cause I need to be positive.
button up and half empty because I just drank half! And my verification word is "peiness" and I just giggled a bit...
botton down. I never get these questions-full I guess.
button down
half-full
i always refer to the shirt as button-down. but i had a very interesting convo with a linguist co-worker of mine, who calls it a button-up. he said you should only call a shirt a button-down when the collar actually buttons down onto the shirt. i'm glad you asked this question because i've been impatiently waiting to say this to someone! ~joelle
Button down
Half empty
I'd call it a collared shirt but, if pushed, would clarify by calling a button-up shirt. My uncle told me that men's shirts button on the convenient side because back in Victorian times, they would get themselves dressed. Women's buttons would be less convenient for a right-handed person because they would usually have a hired servant to adjust their stays -starting at the bottom to make their waists as small as possible- and buttoning up.
Long-winded response, but our obsession with a skinny waist made "button-up" the correct term for women and "button-down" a term for men.
I absolutely LOVE that you asked this question! I'm a fashion history nrrrd, so am glad to see that someone included the polo Brooks Bros. polo collar info as well as differences between mens and womens garments. But even knowing this, I still would call myself a "button down" gal.
That is a buttoned-up button-down shirt.
That is half a glass of water.
Button-up ; Half-full
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