THE T-SHIRT JUMPER

Maybe you can help settle a debate. If you have a t-shirt with long-sleeves, made out of slightly thicker cotton than a normal t-shirt, is it okay to refer to that garment as a t-shirt jumper, or is it a long-sleeved t-shirt?

My pals laughed at me on our Zoom Scrabble night because I said it was a t-shirt jumper.

It got me thinking though, how do you actually define a jumper? Because a "long-sleeved t-shirt" seems indistinguishable from a thin jumper to me! Oh sorry Americans: I mean 'sweater'. I'm not sure what a jumper is in your world (someone who jumps?), but I guess it's not a thing you'd wear.

I pondered a few questions.

Q. Would I wear my 't-shirt jumper' over the top of another t-shirt?

A. Yes.

Q. Would I wear it over a formal shirt?

A. No.

Weird.

Q. What would I call a jumper with short sleeves?

A. Insane. Unless it had no sleeves at all, in which case (and I'm sorry again Americans but this really is a thing) I'd call it a tanktop.

So I looked up a few definitions, hoping that the hallowed dictionary writers might be able to be decisive on the matter.

Cambridge Dictionary says a jumper is 'usually made from wool'. Okay. That would count out my 't-shirt jumper' as a jumper. But then the Oxford English Dictionary throws that into question with:

"a piece of clothing for the upper part of the body, made of wool or cotton, with long sleeves"

Collins says:

"a warm knitted piece of clothing which covers the upper part of your body and arms"

And Merriam-Webster go for:

"a knitted or crocheted jacket or pullover"

... which seems ridiculous, but I'm not going to argue with the Americans again.

So where does that leave me? Knitted or woven? Wool or cotton? It seems our two finest universities don't know, and they can't even run a boat race to sort it out.

You pull it over your head, you poke your arms in and pull it round your waist - it's a jumper, right?

Yeah. A t-shirt jumper.

That being said, I don't think I could convince my friends on the Scrabble Zoom. What's more, I was wearing it underneath a hoodie, which really doesn't help my cause - I'd do exactly that with a t-shirt. I don't think I got out of it by insisting it was a 't-shirt jumper'. They were probably right. They usually are.