What does a pelmet have that a miniskirt hasn't?

A window? A curtain?

*edit*

Doesn't it just mean an incredibly short miniskirt, about 8.5 cm ? Just enough to hide the "works".

a pelmet hides something - the curtain rail, or an unwanted view - but is very short, so barely able to fulfill its hiding function, as it were

Edith hat noch das gefunden: http://www.google.de/search?um=1&hl=de&client...
Die Dinger haben eine gewisse Ähnlichkeit mit "pelmets", findest Du nicht?

Well, those skirts aren't very short.

At any rate it's an(other) instance of English being manhandled.

To quote the current sentence about to be passed through the PTM (Phillipp Translation Machine): "Hierbei spielt die Unterscheidung der weiblichen Position als jener im Bild und die der männlichen als Träger des Blicks eine zentrale Rolle." Jawohl.

;-)

so what was wrong with "miniskirt" again?

auch die Schulmädchen im zweiten von mir verlinkten Artikel ( http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/sep/20... - Link vergessen) tragen meines Erachtens nichts, was eines neuen Namens bedürfte, oder?

Diese richtig superkurzen Dinger sind doch für über Hosen, oder tragen die schamlosen Britinnen die tatsächlich als Rock?

so what was wrong with "miniskirt" again?

It simply doesn't direct attention satisfactorily at what's hidden.

nonono, a pelmet is not a miniskirt
it's the same as a "muffin-top", when... erm... how can I put this politely....
the body mass overwhelms the top of your garment see http://www.flickr.com/photos/malingering/4965... , often combined with " arse antlers" :)

Also nicht "bauchfrei", sondern "bauchwulstfrei"? Lecker ...

but laalaa, what about penguin's google hits from #2? The result is the similar when I google pelmet+skirt site:.co.uk - all skirt, no love-handles.

@ Spinatwachtel: mmm.. yeah.. I get your point.
I've just never heard it in that context, but I'm also wayyyyyy beyond in years to be able to carry that one off :(

In your first example it could be "my" pelmet since they don't talk about the skirt itself rolling down. Your second example does sound like a skirt.
So, I guess jury's out on that one - unless the LEO-fashionistas speak up.
(Ultra)miniskirt is also known as in: "Will you be wearing that belt or are you going to dress sensibly today?" (parent-to-teenager mode)

I understand pelmet as a very short mini skirt, one that only just covers one's bits, but once the wearer bends over or sits down, nothing is left to the imagination.
I have never heard pelmet used to mean "muffin-top". In the first example, the skirt does not roll down, it's just so short, that when the women bends over and the tights and knickers roll down, all is revealed.
I agree with laalaa in that it's used in the same way as belt is used to mean an excesively short skirt.

Yes, it means a very short miniskirt -- I remember the expression from the 60s. I suppose that when someone first thought of it it was a moderately witty comparison, and it then passed into general usage.

How can "both tights and knickers roll down" when you bend over to pick up change? Has that ever happened to anyone? Am I the only one who can't really imagine how/why this would happen? I mean, thights, as the name suggests, are tight. And I don't think I've ever lost a pair of knickers bending down, either. I'm confused.

Glad you asked that question, Gibson. Very baggy tights and knickers maybe? Or electronic ones programmed to "roll down" at the dramatic moment. Maybe blott can help us out with this conundrum of modern life.

Perhaps the tights were too tight, and the bulge of flesh refused to be contained? Or the legs were too long and the lycra wouldn't stretch so far?
It certainly hasn't happened to me, and I don't want to spend any more time thinking about it . . . but it's just the kind of thing I can imagine happening to some of the women you see "out for a night on the Toon" (in Newcastle).

In my days when I was at the age to begin taking interest in things like mini-skirts, the term pussy pelmet for the mini-skirt came into being. This term was generally used for ultra short mini-skirts which didn't leave much room for imagination.

Have a nice day

KopExile

thank you all.

from the link in #10: " A handy is a mobile phone" (the article is about new words in the OED) - really? A Germanism in the English language? The article dates back to 2005, no less, too!

Spinatwachtel, the article isn't about new words in the OED, but new words in the ODE, the "revised second edition of the Oxford Dictionary of English, the press's biggest single-volume dictionary of current English".

Re #12: if pantyhose/underpants are too small, the tops can roll down when you bend over - it's happened to me, but thank heaven I was wearing pants (trousers for you Brits) at the time...

Phillipp, I should stop speed-reading... anyhow, the question remains valid - who in the English-language world calls a mobile phone a "handy"?

who in the English-language world calls a mobile phone a "handy"

Je ne sais pas.

Thanks for the technical details, the kat, leaving much to the imagination. ;-)

Always happy to oblige, Phillipp. ;-)