Red flannel binder

Question

Hello:I wonder what's a "binder" in this context?Frankly Scobie looks anybody's age: older than the birth of tragedy, younger than the Athenian death. Spawn in the Ark by a chance meeting and mating of the bear and the ostrich; delivered before norm by the sickening grunt of the keel on Ararat. Scobie came forth from the womb in a wheel chair and a red flannel binder.Lawrence Durrell, Justine, p. 127Seems to be an article of clothing, but couldn't find anything related to clothing under "binder" in my dictionaries.Thanks.Marius Hancu

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[nq:1]Hello: I wonder what's a "binder" in this context? Frankly Scobie looks anybody's age: older than the birth of ... Seems to be an article of clothing, but couldn't find anything related to clothing under "binder" in my dictionaries.[/nq]
A fascinating page about "The fall of the corset and rise of the girdle" http://www.candsconstructions.com/pand3.htm has this to say about binders:
"A flannel binder should be worn round the stomach and abdomen next to the skin; it should be sufficiently wide to cover the whole of the belly from hips to chest, and long enough to go twice round the body."

That was medical advice given in 1906, and the purpose of the device was protection from the cold.

Isabelle Cecchini

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[nq:1]Hello: I wonder what's a "binder" in this context? Frankly Scobie looks anybody's age: older than the birth of ... of the keel on Ararat. Scobie came forth from the womb in a wheel chair and a red flannel binder.[/nq]
Ack-k-k-k! Again the Lawrence Durrell hot-button! Is this a conspiracy?
It means "file"; a folder in which papers are filed. You're supposed to infer that Scobie is of the bureaucratic, nit-picking, bean-counting, old-woman, progress-impeding frame of mind.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=binder

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[nq:2] Frankly Scobie looks anybody's age: older than the birth ... womb in a wheel chair and a red flannel binder.[/nq]
[nq:1]It means "file"; a folder in which papers are filed. You're supposed to infer that Scobie is of the bureaucratic, nit-picking, bean-counting, old-woman, progress-impeding frame of mind.[/nq]
I like this line of attributes:-)
I understand your suggestion and I thought about it. However, how about the "red flannel"?
I think that Isabelle Cecchini might be on to something there:
A flannel binder should be worn round the stomach and abdomen next to the skin; it should be sufficiently wide to cover the whole of the belly from hips to chest, and long enough to go twice round the body."

That was medical advice given in 1906, and the purpose of the device was protection from the cold.

Perhaps Scobie was supposed to be seen in this passage as partially disabled already at birth ("in a wheel chair and a red flannel binder").

Thank you both.
Marius Hancu

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I think that Isabelle Cecchini might be on to something there: A flannel binder should be worn round the ... this passage as partially disabled already at birth ("in a wheel chair and a red flannel binder"). Thank you both.[/nq]
Thank you!
And here is your reward: a genuine photograph of a genuine old-style French peasant, wearing the fabled "ceinture de flanelle", which my old Harrap's dictionary tells me is the equivalent of a "flannel binder". It is here worn over the shirt, against the advice of the British doctor. http://perso.wanadoo.fr/erwan.levourch/montailleflanelle.htm

Isabelle Cecchini

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[nq:1]And here is your reward: a genuine photograph of a genuine old-style French peasant, wearing the fabled "ceinture de flanelle", ... equivalent of a "flannel binder". It is here worn over the shirt, against the advice of the British doctor. http://perso.wanadoo.fr/erwan.levourch/montailleflanelle.htm[/nq]
The farmer here reminds me of Bourvil, just bigger:-)

Merci beaucoup,
Marius Hancu

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Scobie came forth from the womb in a wheel chair and a red flannel binder. Lawrence Durrell, Justine, p. 127[/nq]
19th century tropical uniforms included a
flannel sash as underclothing as a preventative
against fever. It was sometimes called a malaria
belt, yellow fever belt etc. The point in Justine is that Scobie is an old-fashioned imperialist.
When the brassiere was introduced into British
costume it was called a bust-binder, since cognate with the familiar garment just moved up 10 or

12 inches.

Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

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Is a cincture different from a girdle?

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[nq:1]Is a cincture different from a girdle?[/nq]
It is in architecture.

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[nq:2]It means "file"; a folder in which papers are filed. You'resupposed to infer that Scobie is of the bureaucratic, nit-picking,bean-counting, old-woman, progress-impeding frame of mind.[/nq]
[nq:1]I like this line of attributes:-)[/nq]
However, it turns out to be complete horse. Ah, well (bravely) we live and learn . Sorry, people...
[nq:1]I understand your suggestion and I thought about it. However, how about the "red flannel"?[/nq]
This would be a folder, covered in red flannel, in which papers are... Nah... Forgeddit.

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[nq:1]Is a cincture different from a girdle?[/nq]
Belt him, somebody?
Cheers - Ian

Red flannel binder

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