Chris Beggy :
> Is the windsor knot subversive as well, or does it fall in with
> the dorky butterfly bows?
The function of the necktie is to reduce the flow of blood to the brain, thus making the office worker woozier, more complaisant and subservient. Originally, of course, it was an outright hangman's noose, which the courtiers of a certain ill- tempered despot were forced to wear so that, if they erred, they could be dispatched without delay. Making a virtue of necessity, they covered their ropes with rich silks, satins and velvet, and vied with one another for the most effective slipknot. Later, the tie showed up on the necks of Austria- Hungary's fierce Croatian (Hrvatska) cavalry, whence the term _cravate_, and later still on the fierce inmates of offices and board rooms everywhere. Women, though, have mostly not been taken in, which either explains or originates in their superior on-the-job intelligence.
Coming soon: matching baseball hats and ties for the point men of fashion, at Abercrombie and you-know-who.
-- Gordon