Hi Brynn, different linguistic and cultural traditions have different aesthetic traditions. Think of calligraphy as an art form. Even in English, penmanship used to be greatly valued. I feel a bit sad that we are no longer teaching the beauty of writing – when I was a kid, in the first three years of primary school, we had a school subject called “Schönschreiben” – literally “Writing beautifully” … loved it; was sadly abandoned in the 1990s …

Thanks, Adam. I’ve sent you an email in reply – see you in NZ!
Alex

Thanks for the references! Would also seem important to read in the anthropology and sociology of dress.

Cordwell, J. M., & Schwarz, R. A. (1979). The fabrics of culture: the anthropology of clothing and adornment. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Crane, D. (2012). Fashion and Its Social Agendas: Class, Gender, and Identity in Clothing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Davis, F. (1994). Fashion, Culture, and Identity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
McVeigh, B. J. (2000). Wearing Ideology: State, Schooling and Self-Presentation in Japan. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Mentges, G., Neuland-Kitzerow, D., & Richard, B. Eds. (2007). Uniformierungen in Bewegung. Münster: Waxmann. [some of the chapters in this collection are in English; the title could be translated as “Uniform clothing on the move”]

On page 124, he gives a brief review of related literature:
“more recent work includes Johntsone’s (2009) analysis of the commodification of the local dialect of Pittsburgh (United States of America) through the printed t-shirt; Coupland’s (2010) close reading of Welsh printed tshirts as an act of public signage; Seargeant’s (2012) theoretical exploration of the semiotic affordances of script in signage and printed t-shirts, and Milani’s (2014;
Milani & Kapa 2015) analysis of the printed t-shirt as a signifier of sexual politics.
All publications can be broadly classified within the field of linguistic landscape, in so far as the printed t-shirt “offers a unique lens on multilingualism” and the “symbolic construction of the public space” more generally (Shohamy & Ben-Rafael, 2015: 2).
Also of relevance to this current work is Peck and Stroud’s (2015) article – Skinscapes – in the inaugural journal of Linguistic Landscape (Shohamy & BenRafael, 2015). Using a phenomenological methodology in the context of tattoos in post-partied South Africa, Peck and Stroud argue for the body corporeal (‘moving discursive locality’) to be integrated into the bourgeoning field of linguistic landscape.”

These are such fantastic examples of bilingual creativity – another endlessly fascinating topic! (Previous examples here on Language on the Move include the use of Arabic and Latin and Devanagari and Latin scripts.

Another neat example I came across recently, and which is, incidentally related to Alex’ question about the relationship between cosmopolitanism and elitism, is the German negative term “Kosmoprolet”. This portmanteau of “Kosmopolit” (cosmopolitan) and “Prolet” (prol, lower class person) seems to be mostly used for German tourists in Majorca, as prototypical mass tourists.

That is a terrific anecdote, Angela. Such a fun and memorable “fix” from your relative and her colleague!

Or two scripts cleverly running over the top of each other to create a meaningful message like the recent one for mother’s day, which blended the words “love” and “ماما” (Mama). https://m.facebook.com/mlabbas/photos/a.127434200603316.22666.126409820705754/2081150231898360/?type=3&source=54

Thank you for your interesting post, Alex.

An example of meaning superseding (or at least combining with) the aesthetic appeal of Latin scripts such as English was related to me recently by a relative, whose company in the U.K. was hosting a Chinese delegation of potential franchisees. After several days of negotiations, it seems that the Chinese visitors were still confusing the identities of my relative and her colleague, who decided to use this to humorous effect at the final presentation session by wearing bright pink T-shirts printed in large white lettering on the front with, e.g. “Helen” and in smaller white lettering on the back with, e.g. “Not Rachel!!”. Fortunately, the visitors appreciated the humour and were seemingly so impressed by this solution that they wished to order similar T-shirts for themselves before returning to China, although it may be speculated that part of the appeal may indeed have been aesthetic.

Thanks for the examples, James, Nicole and Sarah. Of course, languages other than English are sometimes used decoratively in English-speaking contexts: a relative of mine who read the blog noted examples over the years in Australia, the UK and USA of many decorative objects and bed linens engaging in “cosmopolitan aesthetics”, using Chinese characters that are often missing a stroke. She noted the combination of characters could be somewhat devoid of seminal context or meaning like the scattered alphabet on the coat I photographed.

And certainly worth emphasising, she finds the term banal cosmopolitanism “somewhat elitist to the point of patronizing towards the uneducated.” Perhaps we should be careful with “banal”, it’s hard to strip it of its negative connotations. Everyday cosmopolitanism?