Thread: smoking-jacket

Dear all, I thought that a SMOCKING-JACKET was a man's item of clothing to be worn at home (even if it might be sort of elegant, made of silk, for instance); I know it comes from the times when such jackets were used when smoking. It could be translated as a "batín" in Spanish, I suppose, that is what all dictionaries suggest somehow.
The problem is, I find it in a text (written around late 70s or early 80s) that says the couple changed for dinner, she in a silk shirt and long velvet skirt and he in his smoking-jacket.
They don't match, do they? His jacket would be too casual compared to her cloths.
I wonder if anybody knows better?
Thank you very much in advance.

Hi there!

According to Wikipedia, a smoking jacket is an informal men's style of lounge jacket originally intended for tobacco smoking, designed in the 1850s. It was out of the smoking jacket that the dinner jacket evolved in 1865, essentially as a dress coat without tail, following the example of Prince, later King Edward VII, preceding the semi-formal black tie in Western dress codes. As such, the smoking jacket has occured also with this level of formality ever since, particularly when smoking pipes and cigars.

smoking jacket.jpg I think they do match. They are at home and he smokes.

[QUOTE=reminder;80148]


Thank you for your quick answer!
As I said, I knew about the origin of that jacket and its use.
And yet "batín" does not sound acceptable to me, considering the way she is dressed up. I'll have to think of something else. Again, I appreciate your reply.

Gracias por valorar mi aporte a tu investigación terminológica.

Por si no recibes otras traducciones posibles del resto de los colegas de este foro, comparto contigo mi análisis de tu contexto.

No usaría "batín" a secas. Aclararía el concepto con "batín para fumar" o "batín para fumadores".

Según el diccionario de la Real Academia Española:

batín
1. m. Bata con faldas cortas que llega solo un poco más abajo de la cintura.
2. m. Bata más o menos larga que usan los hombres para estar en casa.

Como ves, el diccionario no especifica que el batín se utiliza para fumar y, de esta manera, permite no ensuciar o contaminar el traje o la ropa elegante que tiene puesta debajo del batín. Por ello, considero esencial la aclaración "para fumadores" o "para fumar".

Otra opción es usar el término genérico "chaqueta" con la aclaración, siempre necesaria, de que es "para fumadores" o "para fumar".

Hi again,
Yes, my final option was "chaqueta de fumador" (con nota a pie de página para aclaración del término, posiblemente extraño para muchos lectores).
Very kind of you.

That certainly sounds better! Great!