To be shocked that not even one y4 child knew the meaning of the word velvet?

[Utterlybananas333]

My sister is a teacher in a South London primary school, she is a year four teacher of around 30 8 to 9-year-olds. She was recently describing her disbelief over the fact that not a single child knew what velvet meant? There were some crazy guesses, and lots of children who thought it was cake (probably relating to red velvet). Is it just the fact that children and adults don't talk anymore? That nobody reads anymore? Or even watches educational TV programs? Would your child know?

Guess it depends! I was in wide legged velvet trousers last night for nye party and a velvet dress on Xmas day. Both were from high street stores. Don’t perdonslly have velvet Xmas cushions but have seen loads in tk Maxx, M&S etc. My little girl has had many velvety Xmas party dresses over the years. Isn’t hot chocolate described as velvet if it’s luxury?!

More likely velour these days

That's quite the imaginative thought process, would an 8;year old really have the thinking skills to do that on the spot in a classroom?

Ridiculous. Nothing to do with adults
not talking to kids, reading less or lol watching educational tv!! I talk to my child all the time, read to her every day and don’t think I’ve ever mentioned velvet. What a random
word to wring your hands about!

Is it just the fact that children and adults don't talk anymore?

Genuinely can't remeber the last time the word velvet has come up in conversation.

Iam 53 and I know!

In any case, velvet is one of the hardest concepts to convey through the medium of print or digital images alone.

I can’t imagine fully understanding what velvet feels like without ever having touched it for myself.

A description in a novel is likely to be a more effective way to convey it, as it can be compared to other similar textures (a dog’s ear, as a PP mentioned, for example). But photos alone don’t help that much with velvet.

One of my Year 3 children didn’t know what a conker was! We live in rural Lincolnshire, and have conkers practically knocking us out as they fall off the trees in and around our school! 🤯🤷‍♀️

I suspect for the vast majority on this thread is the most we will use the word in the entirety of 2026. Pretty sure I've already used it more this year than I did in the whole of 2025...

@SoftBalletShoes There's even a board game called "Calico", which is all about cats, and competing to design a nice pretty rug for them to curl up on.

And yes, a sou'-wester is a pointed rain hat. But I didn't know that when I read the Famous Five - I remember asking my parents. But do children really know what the words "swaddling" and "manger" mean, despite hearing them a lot in December?

Do they know what "bosom" means? It was in a lot of Roald Dahl books in my childhood, although it's probably been changed in modern reprints.

Having educated children on velvet, now ask them if they know the meaning of this word, to confuse them: vermilion. Will they think it's a fabric?

Shoes/pumps/dresses without the mention of material?

I asked my bf to bring my blavk heels. I didnt specify leather.Or to bring my polyester cotton blend hoodie, just hoodie.

I use the word landing all the time, always have. My two 8yr olds still call it the hallway.

Velvet on antlers?? I assumed you must be drunk on eggnog but Googled it anyway - AND IT'S TRUE! Well I never. You learn something new every day!

I’ve always considered velvet to be a really ugly fabric, so I’m surprised it’s making a comeback. Certainly no velvet in this house. I did ask my preteen, however, and she knew what it was.

All they’d have to do is stay quiet or say they don’t know. The teacher just knows that no-one volunteered the right answer, so it’s just a case of not drawing attention to oneself.

I was just thinking it’s not that different from a child hiding their comfort blanket/toy when they know their friends are coming over.

And there is a lot of velvet on baby stuff, so I can see why a child whose only experience of velvet is the baby blanket they’re embarrassed by would be unlikely to put their hand up. That said, I’m no longer 8 so I could be totally wrong!

My mum might have sent me to look for the velvet in "the bottom drawer of the tallboy". I bet that many children (and indeed some adults) don't know what a tallboy is. I remember thinking that it was a silly word.

This is incorrect. Velveteen is cut from weft threads and velvet is cut from warp threads. That’s the difference, not the material.

My daughters are 7 and 11 and they both know velvet is a fabric and what it feels/looks like.

I have never felt an antler! Why and how would anyone do that? Do you go round chasing stags to feel up their antlers, then? 🤣

I doubt many children have ever seen real velvet. Polyester mock velvet or velvetine maybe but real velvet, probably not.

Get with the times, SoftBalletShoes! I wore stag antlers to my office Christmas party this year

I’m 39 and I know they’re fabrics, although I wouldn’t know how to recognize them. Antonio spit on Shylock’s “Jewish gabardine” in The Merchant of Venice.

I really do think a lot of it is reading related. As I said it comes up as a word in a lot of books. I asked my 6 year old when I put him to bed, and he said it was ‘a material’. I asked what kind of material and he said ‘a soft one’. Given that these children are a couple of years older than him I’d expect some of them to have come across it!

My boys are 18 & 20 but they know most obvious fabrics probably because I’ve always been a toucher of things in shops and they are too. Got to feel all the material, rugs, curtains, voils, fluffy, sparkly, glittery. The lot!

Mine are 42. They wouldn’t know cavalry twill. Gabardine they do know. My 7 and 8 year old grandchildren wouldn’t. But they know lots that I don’t.