Have you ever wondered what the difference between a button up shirt and a button down shirt is? I have because the terms are used interchangeably to refer to shirts with a collar and buttons all the up and down the shirt. It turns out that only men's shirts with a collar that can be buttoned down are appropriately called button down shirts, otherwise they are really button up shirts.
I like this distinction, and it makes me think back to a time when my button up shirt decided to become a button down shirt.
I took a social dance class a couple years ago to help me overcome my fear/ineptitude of dancing. Despite the fact that it didn't work quite the way I had hoped it would, I rather enjoyed some of the class. One dance I never did develop a fondness for doing was the Cha Cha. Basically, I could never get to the point where I felt like my body was doing what it should be doing. That was bad enough but of course it could always get worse.
On the afternoon of our Cha Cha exam my partner and I decided to get one more practice in before before performing for our teacher, Brent (who also happened to be my neighbor). We whipped out a dang good Cha Cha, I was feeling it and really gave it my all. With a flourish we finished with arms outstretched and smiles on our faces because we knew that if we danced that way during the test we would ace it.
Then I looked down and discovered my button up shirt had a button fail from my neck clear to below my belly button! Becoming a BUTTON DOWN shirt. With a mortified cry I dashed to a corner of the room to button up my shirt. My partner thought I was crying and hurried over to see what was wrong, getting a full frontal view of the problem he decided the best help he could give was to delay our test so I could run down to the bookstore and buy a camisole.
Luckily the camisole prevented further wardrobe malfunctions while testing...
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