Country clothes hung on her all and sundry

Question

Hello,

I have a question about the meaning of "all and sundry" ("everybody") in the phrase below:

"Country clothes hung on her all and sundry"

Is the phrase sayng that "country clothes hung on her (AND ON) all and sundry"?

I am not sure if the construction of the phrase may lead one to interpret more than one thing.

Thanks a lot , Laumont.

BarbaraPA · Accepted Answer

Hi Laurmont,

This doesn't sound like a very natural sentence.

If you say "country clothes hung on her" it sounds like she is wearing ill-fitting, very plain clothes (though I have to guess what "country clothes" actually means. Is that what you meant?

If you say "and on all and sundry" it would mean that country clothes hung on everybody else as well.

Is that what the sentence was intended to mean? She, as well as everyone else, was wearing poorly fitting, unadorned clothing.

Laumont · Answer

Hello Grammar Geek,

Thanks for your feedback. Actually the phrase "country clothes hung on her all and sundry" (without "and on") is a line from a poem by Harryette Mullen.

I am trying to figure out the meaning of "all and sundry" in the phrase, since there is no connection, that is, there is no "and on" between the two parts. I imagined this "and on" before "all and sundry" so that I could understand the whole phrase.

So, I don't know if "and on" is grammatically implied in the sentence or if the author has intended to produce another meaning with such a elipsis. As I am not a native speaker of English, things get tough!!

This is the whole poem (very interesting, by the way...):

Thanks a lot (more suggestions are welcome !) , Laumont.

"country clothes hung on her all and sundry

bolt of blue have mercy ink perfume

that snapping turtle *****

won’t let go until thunder comes

call me pessimistic

but I fall for sour pickles

sweets for the heat

awrr reet peteet patootie

shadows crossed her face

distanced by the medium

riffing through it

too poor to pay attention

sepia bronze mahogany

say froggy jump salty

jelly in a vise

buttered up broke ice"

Delmobile · Answer

I think the writer is using the idiomatic phrase "all and sundry" to describe just how the clothes hung. Most definitons I can find online for the phrase say it means "one and all;" however, the internet "Free Dictionary" defines it as meaning "all collectively, and each separately."

Using this definition, I think the writer is saying that, basically, the woman looks like what my grandmother used to call "the ragpicker's daughter." She is wearing unfashionable clothes that an unsophisticated country bumpkin might wear - they don't fit her well ("hung on her') - and what's worse, the various items don't even coordinate.

Laumont · Answer

Hi Delmobile,

Thanks for your feedback. I just would like to have a clarification about the first part of your explanation. You said that "all and sundry" describes just how the clothes hung. So, in your opinion, "all and sundry" does not mean "everybody"? I thought that it means that "this type of clothing hung on her and on everybody/all".

So, if "all and sundry" does not mean "everybody", does it mean "all pieces of country clothing" or a "mess" that hung on her ?

Thanks a lot, Laumont.

Delmobile · Answer

You posted the whole poem while I was composing my response; to tell the truth, with poetry, and especially with, um, more abstract poems such as this one, it can be anybody's guess as to just what the author meant.

"All and sundry," according to the Wordsworth Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, dates from at least the 14th century. It does indeed mean "everyone, without exception." ("All and sundry are invited to the festival celebrating the town's 100th anniversary!") But a creative writer, and especially a poet, might use the phrase to refer to something other than people, and might even use a noun phrase as an adverb.(those poets are liable to do anything

)

He dresses very conservatively.

or

He dresses very "pillar of the community."

Laumont · Answer

Thanks a lot!! Laumont

Country clothes hung on her all and sundry

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