Beards and kilts

[auld argonian]

Veering slightly off topic but the can of worms has been opened and the history buffs will be descending anyway...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_van_Dyck

I always assumed that the style of beard got its name from the beard of the artist.

Best

AA

[fluter]

I always assumed that the style of beard got its name from the beard of the artist.

<chortle> yes it did. I was also refreshing my memory & saw that van Dyck himself had the merest of chin-whiskers and a twirly moustache; at least in the most familiar portraits.

However I believe the term arose in the U.S. in the 20th century and in that context has the general meaning of moustache plus goatee. Webster's 3rd does indeed specify a pointed beard.

[Yaish]

Goatee - beard on the chin only, traditionally but not always trimmed to a point.

Van Dyke - A chin beard and mustache, which may or may not connect. As with the goatee the chin beard is often shaped to a point.



I just realized my full beard is only five weeks old. It's nice and thick now, and in a few weeks it'll probably need it's first trimming.
I like the full beard but I'll be going back to the Van Dyke come spring. It's just too hot to insulate the cheeks all summer long.

[Bugbear]

Oops, I forgot about Summer... Guess that might not work out here in the desert. Might keep the sun off my face though.

[Mr. Kilt]

I've tried various styles of beards & goatees over the past 25 years. They usually never lasted more than a few months. However, my current goatee...errr...Van Dyke has been in place since the summer of 2003. I have no intention of ever shaving it off. The old pics of me clean shaven scare me!

[Bugbear]

I had an algebra teacher in highschool that grew a beard on even numbered decades... or something like that.

[Graywolf]

I had an algebra teacher in highschool that grew a beard on even numbered decades... or something like that.

You spent two decades in highschool in algebra?

[Surly Dave]

I've always had some sort of facial hair, usually a beard of some sort. I have only been clean shaven 3, maybe 4 times since I was 18. Once for boot camp, once, maybe twice, to see how it looked (started growing it back the next day), and once after a tragic grooming accident that ended a rather fine handlebar mustache. I was letting the 'stache grow out again, but seeing I have to look for work I'll probably trim it so I can look 'respectable'. Not something I pull off very easily.

[James MacMillan]

In Viet Nam, one tour, I grew a handlebar so long, that you could see it from behind me.....

[Chef]

In the military i was clean shaven except for those "natural" times in the field.

Other than that I have had some type of facial hair, either a trimmed full beard or a circle beard for most of the time. I took it off a few years ago when my oldest was quite young...he wouldn't come near me for a day and a half. My wife told me a week in to grow it back. She thought I looked silly without it.