The Cadogan Braid

[dropinthebucket]

A picture of the catogan/cadogan here:

http://www.theweebsite.com/garb/pec/pec82.html

"queue," also meaning pigtail.

[Wavelength]

*blink* maybe that's a regional thing, but pigtail=braid when I grew up. It meant a single, fairly short braid like you'd see on a periwig, but pigtail def. meant a braided tail.

Hmm, I guess it is regional. Where I grew up, a pigtail just meant a short tail, sometimes one that had been deliberately curled (to look more like a real pig's tail, I assume). Usually they'd come in pairs, high up on either side of the head -- therefore they were mostly called "pigtails" in the plural. A ponytail was a larger tail, and usually single, at the back of the head.

Pigtails were usually worn by little girls but not always. Sometimes they were braided but not usually. So when I hear "pigtail" I think of a high, unbraided, short ponytail. Yay regional differences.

[Merlin]

The Cadogan Hotel was where Oscar Wilde was arrested...

"Mr Wilde we have come for to take you
Where thieves and criminals dwell
We must ask you to come quietly
For this is the Cadogan Hotel"
John Betjamin

[serious]

The 18th century man's Cadogan wig

More hairstyles and hats from the same period:
http://gallery.villagehatshop.com/gallery/chapter11

[rusika1]

"Emily, with skirts a fraction longer and her hair clubbed up so high in the "Cadogan Braid" of those days, that it really was almost "up", was back in Shrewsbury for her Junior year..."

And

The 18th century man's Cadogan wig

I don't think it's a french braid. If you look at the picture in the first link Serious posted, you'll see that the queue is folded up and tied, or clubbed. I suspect Emily's braid was folded and tied in such a way that it was essentially a low bun on the nape of her neck.

ETA: Yep, definitely a clubbed queue, look at the rest of the Cadogan picture links. The hair is clearly folded and tied. (The clearest viewis on page three, top righthand side of the page, on the second link posted by Serious.

Oh, and ponytails were always loose hair (often, but not always, high on the head) and you would wear either one or two of them. Pigtails were braids, usually two but could be one. I always thought they were called pigtails because, if you follow any of the strands in the braid, they're wiggly, like a pig's tail. Could be regional, I'm from Southern California with a mom from the Midwest; so it might be from either of those places. (Or both!)

[Arctic_Mama]

Fascinating!

[Kat]

I know we've had this discussion before, but to me pigtails always meant two braids (like I'm wearing right now). And yes, I'm from the Midwest.

Although to me I guess "pigtails" always had the connotation of two braids on a little girl...on an adult it would just be called "two braids." But maybe that's because adults rarely wear two braids (probably BECAUSE they're considered little-girl-ish--even now I wonder if I should, esp. since I spend so much time bemoaning how young I look, I probably ought not to be helping), or because nobody would want to describe an adult woman as wearing "pigtails."

[prettydark]

I thought I'd enter the side discussion. Where I'm from:

'A ponytail' is one single tail gathered high or low, it can be center back, or on the side, but it is singular. When braided, it is a 'braided ponytail'.

'Pigtails' are two ponytails on either side and can be oriented high or low, they can be short or long, straight or curly. They can also be braided, becoming, wait for it, 'braided pigtails'.

'Braids' or more accurately 'twin braids' are two braids. Not getting into the different styles of braids.

The main thing differentiating 'braided pigtails' from 'twin braids' for me is that braided pigtails have the against-the-scalp elastic or tie.

[skay]

Thanks, everyone for their contributions and chiming in to help solve this puzzle.

Wow, it's great to get answers from people from different parts of the world!

Oh no! I wrote a long reply about catogan and cadogan and cadogan teapots and now it's lost. I think the French explanation is best - a simple corruption turned it from catogan to cadogan. And a lady would have avoided loose hair, hence it became a braid.

After reading everyone's response, I believe Kuchen's response above gives a simple summary and resolution.

To further elaborate:

Emily, the character in the book, said it was a braid from "those days", so it may have very well been the case she modified the "Cadogan" to have a braid so as to be appropriate for that time, region and gender; and then folded it up multiple times (or as the author says "clubbed it").

My DBF, who's a eighteenth-century freak, always wears his APL hair in a low ponytail, held by a black silk ribbon he calls, in french, Catogan. There's an article on the french Wikipedia that seems to make order in the ideas that were brought here, let's see if I can translate it properly:

Le catogan est un noeud utilisé pour attacher les cheveux en une coiffure ramassée sur la nuque. Par extension, il désigne une coiffure où les cheveux sont attachés et ramassés sur la nuque. Le mot fut créé au xviiie siècle, à partir de Cadhogan, nom du général et comte anglais qui mit cette coiffure à la mode.
Au xviiie siècle, en Europe, le catogan semble avoir la forme d'une queue de cheval basse, très courante chez les soldats, les domestiques...
En Asie, très porté et ses sens sont très divers.
Actuellement, le mot catogan est plutôt utilisé pour désigner une sorte de large chignon bas.

The Catogan in a knot used to tie hair into an updo brought togheter on the nape. By extension, it can refer to that updo. The word was created in the eighteenth century, from Cadhogan, name of the English general and count that brought this hair setting into fashion.
In the eighteenth century, in Europe, the catogan seems to have the shape of a low ponytail, very common among soldiers, servants...
Nowadays, the word catogan refers mostly to a kind of wide low bun.

HTH!

Thanks for the translation celelu. It was helpful to see the historical background as well as how the word is used today -- in order to understand what the author in the book may have meant.

By the way, that's cool your DBF wears a black satin ribbon around a low ponytail. I admire a guy who can pull that off!

Someone needs to tell Jessica Simpson about this ... I think she believes she "invented" hair extensions!

LOL. Right?!

The Cadogan Hotel was where Oscar Wilde was arrested...

"Mr Wilde we have come for to take you
Where thieves and criminals dwell
We must ask you to come quietly
For this is the Cadogan Hotel"
John Betjamin

Nice quote! The historical article was an interesting read, too.

Thank you to everyone!

Skay

Regarding pigtails, ponytails, braids, etc. terminology, check out these Archived Posts/Polls:

The Pigtail Poll

PIGtails? PONYtails?!

How do you call that?