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Mysteries of Vernacular

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Tuxedo:

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men's evening wear for semi-formal occasions.

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Tuxedo, surprisingly, has its roots

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in Native American history.

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The Delaware Indians of what is now

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the Northeast United States,

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were divided into three subgroups,

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distinguished by their animal totems:

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the turkey,

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the turtle,

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and the wolf.

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Members of the tribe belonging to the wolf totem

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were often referred to

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by the indigenous word for the four-footed canine,

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p'tuksit.

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In the 18th century,

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Europeans who settled in the former region of the P'tuksit

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Anglicized the name as "tuxedo"

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and slapped it on a town in southeast New York.

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Decades later, in the late 1800s,

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a lavish resort was constructed

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and christened "The Tuxedo Club".

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It was at The Tuxedo Club,

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around the turn of the century,

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when a dress jacket was required

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for almost every occasion,

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that a brash young man,

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heir to an enormous tobacco fortune,

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caused a stir by flaunting tradition

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and donning a formal dinner jacket

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without tails.

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His bold fashion statement was quickly popularized

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and nicknamed, "tuxedo,"

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which in Northern America,

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is the headache of high school prom attendees

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across the nation.