A Jacket’s Not a Jacket When It’s a Sweater, See? | New York Times

A Jacket’s Not a Jacket When It’s a Sweater, See?
New York Times - September 14 2006

Soon after we moved from New York to the warmer climate of Northern California, my three daughters unanimously decided that the article of clothing commonly known as the jacket did not exist.

At first I tried not to take it personally when, on chilly mornings, my two teenage daughters pretended not to understand English as I recommended they bundle up. They shivered off to school in flimsy sweaters. On windy days they stared blankly at the hooded jackets I pointed out in the closet. Foggy days? Sweaters. A heavy downpour? Soaking wet sweaters.

But after a family ski trip to Lake Tahoe — where a then 8-year-old Clementine insisted on riding the lifts swathed in multiple layers of ice-encrusted sweaters that made her look like a tiny Abominable Snowman — I was finally forced to recognize the outerwear war for what it was: one more brilliant salvo in my daughters’ long-running campaign to drive their mother crazy.

Or was it? [more]