To be irritated by this description of an innocuous item?

[BatonRouge]

What are they playing at? Gone back to the 1950's have we Sainsbos?

That style of pillowcase is called housewife everywhere not just Sainsburys, it's just the design name.

That's the style mans. It's been around for donkeys years.

Style name and cross posted with you English.

It's just the name of that kind of pillowcase, I don't see what the problem is.

Really?! There's me thinking it was a some outdated way of flogging a house-ware range!

This has been a thing forever OP. Forever.

Still think its a bit of an old fashioned name though but honestly didnt know it was desribing standard sizes pillowcases

Is it being too incendiary to comment that just because it has been called that for years is no reason for it to continue being called that ? Especially given how other words - despite being merrily used for centuries - are now slightly less fashionable ?

Or should I butt out ?

A 'housewife' pillow is the industry standard name for a plain rectangular pillow case. If it has an ornamental band around the edges it is called an 'Oxford' pillow case. God only knows why.

I'm with you there LurkingHusband

It is old fashioned but how would changing the name happen? There are literally hundreds possibly thousands of manufacturers and retailers using this name, who would coordinate an agreement for them all to change at the same time? Who would pay for the rebranding and reprinting if all of the packaging and marketing? I doubt it's high up the list of priorities for any of them.

#everyday sexism ?

We need a campaign. A slogan. A logo. And a patron. And a suggestion for an alternative descriptive word.

It is old fashioned but how would changing the name happen? There are literally hundreds possibly thousands of manufacturers and retailers using this name, who would coordinate an agreement for them all to change at the same time? Who would pay for the rebranding and reprinting if all of the packaging and marketing? I doubt it's high up the list of priorities for any of them.

Ah, the old "it's too hard" retort. Anyway, best way to move it up their list of priorities, is to make it yours. Given the amount of tinkering I have seen in my life, over words and meanings, this should be a doozey.

I love this thread.

It's the name of the pillowcase style. Always has been. For tiiiime.

Are you going to take on Kleenex Man Size tissues too lurking?

It's news to me too OP!

I'm not going to bite lurking as you seem to want to make a slightly old fashioned description into some sort of huge issue. I'll leave you to it

SAHM pillowcase?

It is called what it's called. Has been for AGES. If you take offence, does that mean there's something derogatory about Housewives?

Don't even get me started on Yoghurt....that is now Yogurt. Who decided that?

I suppose it could be just called a plain pillowcase, to differentiate from the Oxford.

We had this thread a couple of years ago. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/a2031197-About-pillow-cases-having-housewife-written-on-the-packaging

The ones with the useful flap on the end to stop them falling out are called Housewife after the Housewives Co-operative of Bolton apparently. I'm visualising them (entirely in my imagination, because Google's giving me nothing) as fine strong women who worked together in the cause of female and class solidarity and took no shit from anyone and I'm happy to keep their name.

Is it time to change the word "human" to something less gender specific?

Well, you learn something everyday!

I always thought that a pillowcase was a pillowcase was a pillowcase.

Unless it was an Oxford pillowcase.

Well don't I just feel daft!

Ooh that's interesting LadyIW. I love finding out that the origins of a word/name are nothing like what I assumed.

So you pillowcase experts, so is there a type of covering that is not either a Housewife or Oxford pillowcase?
Somewhere in my brain I can remember having pillowcases when I was a child without a foldover flap thingy.

If an Oxford pillowcase reduced its ornamental edging by 50%, could we get the IOC to declare it a housewife pillowcase anyway and compel shops to display it with the other housewife pillowcases, as ornamental bands confer no linen-based advantage?