HOW LINGUISTS THINK OF A “WARDROBE MALFUNCTION.” There was an extended discussion of Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” at the 2004 Super Bowl. Linguists think of it differently than the other discussants. In Professor Boroditsky’s article, and in the comments on Language Lab here, “wardrobe malfunction” is discussed as a “nonagentive coinage introduced into the English language by Justin Timberlake.”
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There is also the strange phenomenon, when high fashion dictates wardrobe malfunctions, as in, why don’t you wear ripped stockings with a velvet tunic, and shoes that are going to snap you off at the ankles within the first hour of wear. Why don’t you bleach your eyebrows till they disappear? Wait. That’s not wardrobe. Well, you get the picture. We don’t have any new ideas for nice clothes, so why don’t you try “hideous” this season?