On the topic of space leathers

[rolanni]

NOTE:  This is not a call to seek out the review cited below and castigate the reviewer, who is, after all, entitled to her opinion.  Indeed, I'm grateful to her for presenting a viewpoint that would have never occurred to me, and for presenting me with an opportunity to explain the origin of an important part of the Liaden Universe®

This is a riff off of a reader review of Carousel Sun.  I do read reviews, and sometimes I riff off of them.  Consider yourselves warned.  This particular review took exception to the appearance of the word "leathers" in Carousel Sun, when, if I understand the argument correctly, "leathers" had already been co-opted by the Liaden Universe® and ought never appear in any other work written by me or by Steve.

Even, apparently, when it is the correct word (i.e. the protective clothing worn by motorcyclists are referred to as "motorcycle leathers," or "leathers."  Here's an example of cycling leathers.) used in the correct world, by the correct people.

Which is, IMHO, a. . .really interesting viewpoint.*

But!  It got me to thinking about the origin of "space leathers" in the Liaden Universe®.

Steve and I grew up in the 1960s, when the Great Public Mind was in the process of mythologizing World War II.  That meant that we saw a lot of war shows on television, including:  Combat!, McHale's Navy, Twelve O'Clock High, The Rat Patrol, Hogan's Heroes. . .among others, and a whole stack of movies:  The Longest Day, Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Bridge on the River Kwai, von Ryan's Express, &c, &c

My dad used to make it a point to take me to see war movies, as a father-daughter bonding thing.  Most, if not all, of these movies, featured pilots.  And the pilots were. . .heroic. They wore their leather jackets with pride and with attitude.  The other characters might have reservations, but even those who did honored the pilots for their courage, derring-do, and amazing ability to pull things out of hats.

When it came time to write the Liaden Universe®, and fill in Clan Korval's pilots-by-intention lineage, with a birthright of attitude, courage, and over-the-topness -- we dressed them as they deserved -- in space leather:  protective gear that was instantly recognizable, even by those who were not pilots (or Scouts), which not only protected them, but illuminated and increased their mystique.

-------------------------------

*Leather has, of course, been used throughout history as protective clothing; after all, it's tough.  Conquistadors wore leather; American Indians wore leather; Vikings wore leather.  I speak here only of the leathers that influenced us.

Comments

[margotinez.livejournal.com]

I always enjoy your expositions. Keep on writing, in any form!

[kimuro.livejournal.com]

In this reader's opinion, you evoked exactly the correct mental response. Whenever they spoke of their leathers, I envisioned something very like a pilot's jacket. For much the same reason, apparently, that you felt the phrase would serve.

[attilathepbnun.livejournal.com]

Ditto!

[timepiece]

If I promise not to castigate the reviewer, will you at least point us to the review in question?

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

No.

I believe you would honor your promise, but, sadly, not everyone who may read this will feel themselves so bound. The reviewer *is* entitled -- encouraged -- to share her opinion and concerns with other readers in relative safety...

So, in the interest of not exposing her to random trolls...

[timepiece]

That's understandable. I believe I have actually located the one you're referring to, but I'm not going to comment in reply (though i do think her complaints are misguided - with a common author, I would expect overlaps in vocabulary, no?).

[lornastutz.livejournal.com]

When I got my pilot's license, the other pilots threw me into the pool adjacent to the air strip and gave me a leather jacket at the party. Initiation into the club.

Leathers

[gareth griffiths (from livejournal.com)]

My father was a pilot in WW2 - I vividly remember his pilot leather jacket. (Essential and warn - remember that they didn't have sealed air-conditioned cabins in those days) What you describe feels like a newer slimmer version of that - probably no longer heavy fleece lined as it does not need the warmth but unmistakeably derived from it.

I have no problem with other (and correct) use of 'leathers' which is clearly what bikers wear today - actually I think that what they wear today (at least the more racing versions) is more how I envisage the pilot leathers (but without the knee pads designed to scrape the ground).

I guess I'm the same generation so picked up the concept immediately. Wonder if the youth of today do?

Re: Leathers

[attilathepbnun.livejournal.com]

*waves hand*
I do! Though not a teenager, I'm guessing I'm noticeably younger than you

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

My Dad was a professional motorcycle racer during part of his life, so to me Leathers means just that, his protective racing gear. But, as a writer, you use the word as you need it to fit into your story.

I mean, really, you use the word Turtle, to mean Clutch Turtles, but Pratchett uses it meaning "turtles all the way down" in Discworld. Yertle uses it as a last name.. it was what a friend named their green VW Beetle.. everyone has their own definition of a word in how they use it. English lets us beat the hell out of a word to suit ourselves. And we dont have to be consistant about it either.

Leathers - In both contexts

[charlie russel (from livejournal.com)]

Well, as a long time recreational motorcycle rider, I remember buying my very first leather jacket. Which saved several a square foot or so of skin the first time I went down. Made a bit of a mess of the jacket, but I continued to wear it as my "badge". Oh, and what did we call that leather jacket? Especially when accompanied by leather chaps or pants? "Leathers".

Leather pilot jackets, especially those worn by WWII era pilots, were what I always assumed were the inspiration for the space leather pilot jackets of the Liaden Universe. And I've always appreciated that we never quite knew what kind of leather. But yes, I know exactly what they look like. (You may have your own opinion, that's fine. I know what I see when I read about a pilot jacket, thank you.)

[nojay.livejournal.com]

Most serious sports motorcyclists wear Kevlar "leathers" these days with plastic armour segments to protect the spine, joints etc. The look is more Giger than WWII pilots. Of course Kimball Kinnison wore leathers too, the Grey Lensman uniform.

Leather Jackets

[anne marie scott (from livejournal.com)]

Getting a leather flying jacket is STILL part of the mythos of flying. The US Air Force still issues A-2 leather flying jackets to pilots, and some other personnel - I was issued one as space ops officer. The Navy has their own version, with a "fur" collar, the G-1. The official ones are made of goat skin - it's tougher. I don't think anyone issues the sheepskin ones anymore, although you can get your official jacket modified with a zip-in liner.

Certainly a version of one of those is what I envisioned upon reading "space leather" although, like the current flying community, it would probably be a ceremonial/everyday wear item, not actually used while flying. In the American armed forces, for actual flying, you wear a nomex flight jacket which won't burn up if you end up in a crash, or in a more likely but equally grim scenario, you won't burn up if you eject from your aircraft and the parachute gets sucked down into the fireball left by your jet. I would think some sort of truly protective gear would be actually worn for flying a spacecraft as well - and that's definitely implied in your writing.

There are other pieces of gear like that, with great historical significance, but no practical reason anymore. For example, pilots are also still issued scarves, or buy special ones from their unit, but you can't wear that in a jet either - too great a chance of it getting caught on something and choking you to death! Scarves were actually useful in WWI & WWII, because the uniforms were wool, and the scarf kept your neck from being chafed when you were looking around for enemy fighters. Even though the scarf has no practicality, I doubt it will go away anytime soon, which is too bad, because it's a pain to remember them.

Leathers

[bookmobiler.livejournal.com]

I see somebody else mentioned the Lensmen series. Which I have to admit is what I assumed inspired you and Steve.
My father was WWII navy on a destroyer escort, so no leathers for him.
Besides the two of you are noted for slipping in genre references.

[muirecan.livejournal.com]

Interesting I never ever had a problem with your use of leathers in the Liaden universe. It always evoked WWI and WW2 leather pilot jackets for me. :)

I suspect though don't know since I don't know the review your riffing off of that someone reads to much BDSM and has no other context in their minds for the word leathers. They don't actually know the history of BDSM leathers dating to goth and before that motorcycle culture and comeing into that culture via that route. I suspect that this single point of view disoncerts them since they don't have a history or context to fit the word into.

[thewol.livejournal.com]

I expect I am of the same generation as you and Steve, and I "got" the pilot's leathers reference in the Liaden sphere as a matter of course and I accepted it without cavil. It made perfect sense to me that apart from its coat-like function, a significant part of it's usage was to be fitted with all sorts of hidden pockets for the kind of stuff you wouldn't want to be caught without (especially those who were Scouts), not the least of them your ship key and your pilot's credential as well as a secret stash of cash and the Liaden equivalent of a couple of energy bars. It was the must-have gear of a person who traveled a lot, who, perforce, traveled light, and who could end up stranded out somewhere and needed to land feet first. It had evolved and was shaped by the needs of those who wore it and, as such, was a means of identifying you to other members of your guild, and to the world at large as a way to establish at a glance how you fit into the general scheme of things. (I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy...) The "Earthian" motorcycle leather jackets are the same type of garment evolved to fit the needs of its wearers They usually have zippered pockets for stashing necessities and it only takes one experience with road rash (hopefully a vicarious one) to trigger the AHA! moment. Protection from road rash is the obvious need, but you also need protection against other things that don't occur to a person who has never ridden a motorcycle for longer than 10 or 20 minutes at a stretch, or has never ridden one all day out on the highway: The wind of your passage sucks heat out of your body, even on the hottest days; it flaps your clothing about, and pelts you with such things as grains of gravel and bugs. Somehow "Motorcycle Denims" or "Motorcycle Kevlars" just don't have quite the same ring to them, and terminology has a tendency to persist even when it doesn't exactly fit any more. We still hang up the phone, even though a whole generation has grown up with phones that no longer have a receiver to hang up or anything to hang it up on. To me, "leathers" conveys the idea of "a jacket for wearing while riding a motorcycle" shortly and concisely. Sadly, maybe the younger generation needs more "'splaining" than I do. Footnotes? Annotations?

[thewol.livejournal.com]

Oh, and to me "leather" implies durability, also a key requirement in either case. Maybe not so much to the rip-stop nylon and/or Kevlar generations?

[gareth griffiths (from livejournal.com)]

The review in question is not hard to find if you really want to, but it is far from a bad review so don't anyone get too cross. I don't agree with some of it and I suspect what is odd word usage to some is natural to others, and odd phrasing to people from one dialect/culture/district of the English language is natural to others. The reviewer does question phrases that grate to the reviewer, which do not grate to me - claiming they seem more Liaden than American. I guess I've experienced a lot more dialects and don't find it odd. Incidentally I find a lot of similarity between rural coastal Maine and the East Anglia coastal rural accents in England. Wonder if there was some migration from the fishing communities there way back.

[6-penny.livejournal.com]

I believe there was - also in the East End if Long Island (N Y) the old fishing villages had a recognizable english provincial accent.
My father who was born in 1907 worked for a couple of fishermen in the summers when he was a lad -they were brothers, and descended an old time Long Island Dutch ancestry. They still used Dutch between them as their preferred language, probably two centuries after it had been in common usage!

Call a Smeerp a Rabbit

[john c danielson (from livejournal.com)]

I always thought the 'leathers' worn by Pilots and Scouts in the Liaden Universe® stories were a case of "Call a Smeerp a Rabbit" (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CallASmeerpARabbit standard TV Tropes timesink warning applies).

I understood [space] leathers to be the defanged (no smart strands or other 'Old Tech') descendants/replacements of the 'skins' worn by Jela and Cantra in the prior universe (as described in the Great Migration [Crystal] duology). Visually similar to WWII pilot jackets and motor cycle race suits, but a different technology entirely.

Call a Smeerp a Rabbit

[john c danielson (from livejournal.com)]

I always thought the 'leathers' worn by Pilots and Scouts in the Liaden Universe® stories were a case of "Call a Smeerp a Rabbit" (Google [TVTropes CallASmeerpARabbit] standard TV Tropes timesink warning applies).

I understood [space] leathers to be the defanged (no smart strands or other 'Old Tech') descendants/replacements of the 'skins' worn by Jela and Cantra in the prior universe (as described in the Great Migration [Crystal] duology). Visually similar to WWII pilot jackets and motor cycle race suits, but a different technology entirely.