BE 622: Can You Call a Man's Shirt a Blouse?

This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 622. Can you call a man's shirt a blouse? Welcome to the Business English Podcast from All Ears English. Get the English skills you need to achieve your dreams in global business.

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One more time, go to allearsenglish.com slash social. S-O-C-I-A-L. Hey, Lindsay, how are you doing? Good, Aubrey. How are you? How's it going? Excellent.

We are talking about business attire today, clothing, especially some words that can be gendered are specific for one gender or the other and some great options that are gender neutral. Would you say, Lindsay, what is your work style?

Oh my gosh. Well, when I work from home, I'm very casual, especially if I don't have any meetings or meeting with students or anything. But when I go to a conference, I like to wear like a blazer and sneakers. So pretty casual, but I'd say like...

probably neat and tidy, right? Like fitted clothing. I like to have my clothes fit well. I don't like loose, even if it's in style, I don't like to wear loose baggy things.

Yeah. You're like, my style is neat and tidy. Yeah. Neat and tidy. That's it. What about you, Aubrey? What's your style? I'm going to say when I dress up, it's when we're recording for a course.

If any of you have signed up for any of our courses, you might see us in a blazer and a collared shirt because I'm trying to look a little more professional. But even on the podcast, I'm like, Pretty casual. Yeah.

Yeah. Because we're doing natural conversation here, right? Love it. So what are we getting into today? Talking about clothing styles. I'm excited. This is interesting.

Clothing is, of course, a huge topic of conversation. And this came up, we're answering a student's question from one of our Q&A sessions. Anyone in our personal coach classes attends a weekly Q&A if they're able. And they asked about gendered words for work attire, for clothing.

The first was a couple of them were wearing these really beautiful blouses that were a little more flowy, very colorful. And I said, oh, your blouses are so beautiful. And they hadn't heard that word blouse. So we talked about that word.

And then they had all of these follow up questions. So we're going to talk about it today because I sort of realized I hadn't realized that there are some words that we really use specific with work attire, business attire for women's or men's clothing. Oh my gosh, so many great questions. But where should we start today then, Aubrey?

Yeah. So today we are going to answer those questions, the questions that came up. And we're also going to share some gender neutral words for clothing, especially when you're wanting to be sensitive, right? Culturally sensitive.

You don't know in your work environment that might have trans or cisgender employees. You might not want to be using gendered clothing to describe their clothing. So I think it's good to have some gender neutral words that we're starting to use more as we're more aware. Yeah.

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All right, let's dive in and answer some of the questions that we got, which I'm sure everyone out there would also be curious. So first of all, the word blouse, I kind of described this as a flowy shirt that is traditionally used to describe a woman's shirt that often would be colorful, might have flowers, right?

So like, even if a man were wearing a flowy shirt, a more oversized shirt, I wouldn't call it a blouse because it's a very gendered word. Yeah. So the question the student asked is, would we ever say blouse for a men's shirt? No, not really.

Right? Yeah. So when I think blouse, I do think, like you said, a feminine piece of clothing. That's usually more delicate fabrics, flowy, right? And it's interesting.

I avoid buying blouses because they often have to be dry cleaned. They might not be machine wash. And I won't buy anything I can't wash in my washing machine. No, that makes total sense. And they get wrinkly depending on the material and it's just a mess.

Yes, I agree. But they do look good under a blazer sometimes. So I will try to get them if I can. But if you go to a conference, you got to hang your stuff up right away in the hotel room, right?

Right. To travel with a blouse is dangerous. You're going to need to bring a steamer probably because they do. It's fabrics that wrinkle easily. But let's give a couple example sentences.

You might say, oh, I'm looking for a nice blouse I can wear to work. Or her blouse looks very professional, right? Yes. Okay. So then what about the man's item that's similar to that, Aubrey?

What would you call it then? You're not going to call it a blouse. So what is it called? So a men's dress shirt, which you could call it that, a dress shirt, might be called a button up, a collared shirt, a long sleeve shirt, right?

Any of these things. What do you think, Lindsay? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I agree. So button up, I don't really use that term. Collared shirt, I think you could call a collar shirt a woman's shirt too.

But it's a little bit more structured, right? It's not a blouse. That's the thing, right? Yeah, it's interesting. It usually has buttons and it's just a bit more – it's usually cotton, not so much like a silky fabric.

Yeah. A lot of it's about the fabrics and if it's more delicate and flowing or not. Exactly. A lot of it's more if it's fitted or not. Yeah. That's interesting.

And then button down, I have heard for both. I think you have as well, right? You would call a collared shirt that buttons up for a man or a woman. You can call it a button down.

But I feel like more and more I'm hearing button up used just for like a men's collared buttoned up shirt. What do you think, Lindsay? Yeah. Yeah, I think that's probably true.

That makes sense. We'll go with that. I think that makes a lot of sense. So button up, just button up alone being for men, but a button down shirt being for women and men.

This is very specific here. It is very specific. It's interesting. There's a chance this is very regional, right? If you're in the UK or if you're in the States and maybe East versus West, this is the kind of thing that changes depending on where you are.

So it might be more common where I am to say certain things, but some of these are very sort of standard for all business attire. Blouse being very much associated with women's shirts, these more delicate flowing shirts and And then if you want to refer to a man's shirt, you could call it a button up or a collared shirt. Either of those would work.

Yeah. So for example, you could say you should wear a button up shirt to the interview or those pants would look better with a button up. So someone giving their partner maybe some fashion tips.

Exactly. Right. And this is interesting. It's also making me think about the language we use for suits. Whereas for a woman's suit, we might call it a pantsuit.

I remember Hillary Clinton was famous for wearing pantsuits, but we would never call a man's suit a pantsuit. We would just call it a suit. Because of course, they're wearing pants, right? More than likely, they're wearing pants.

Yes, exactly. Yes, it's because often traditionally women's suits did have skirts more. So now we're saying a pantsuit to distinguish between a suit with a skirt and a suit with pants. So it is different.

We just have this different, these different terms that are used depending on the type of clothing. Yeah, and I love that our listeners are concerned about making sure that we are making everyone feel included using inclusive language. So our listeners asked you, should we avoid gendered clothing words in case coworkers are trans or cisgender, for example, or different – let's just say have different gender identities that are outside what is –

outside the norm. And what's interesting here is you won't always know. You may have coworkers that are trans or cisgender who haven't come out to the office. So in order to be respectful, I really try to use neutral language whenever possible, just because I don't know.

And I don't want to make an assumption, right? Yeah. So I think there are some good options here. Instead of telling anyone, I love your blouse, just in case there's a chance they could be offended for some reason, I would just go with shirt most often.

Go with the most neutral term, the broadest term, the big umbrella term. Right. Exactly. So let's take a quick break and we're going to give you some more gender neutral broad terms that you could use to describe anyone's clothing that never would potentially be, you know, gendered and make an assumption on your behalf.

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Go to allearsenglish.com slash S-O-C-I-A-L and save up to $100 off the normal price. And I can't wait to see you soon inside the course. Okay, Aubrey, so what are those gender neutral words that we can use to describe tops, would you say? So I think button down for sure.

First, we kind of mentioned that when you say button down, it doesn't really assume a men's or women's shirt. These can be casual or more formal depending on the fabric and style. This is just any shirt that has buttons all the way down. Yes.

And yeah, I mean, I know for sure because if you get – I've gotten like updos done and sometimes if you go to the prom or something and you get your hair done beforehand, they'll tell you to wear a button-down shirt so you don't have to pull a shirt after your hair is done up over your head, right? Yeah. So I think that definitely can be used for women. But that would be the best one.

It's broad. Yeah. What else? Yes. I'm just going to give a couple of examples with that. You might say everyone presenting at the conference was asked to wear a button down shirt or I packed two button downs for our business trip next week.

So anyone could say this. They just and you could also say collared shirt. I think this doesn't necessarily imply gender for someone to say a collared shirt. Yeah.

Or you could just say shirt as we suggested before the break. Just going with that umbrella term will be kind of the safest way because that won't point to any gender. Okay? Yes.

So for example, you might say, you know, like if you want to compliment just to say, I love your shirt or how many shirts did they tell us to pack, right? This is just a general term that is not going to assume gender. But I have a question for you, Lindsay. Yeah.

The word top, sometimes we'll use top to refer to lots of different shirts, but I think that also is gendered. I wouldn't call a man's shirt a top. What about you? Yeah.

When I think top, I think female. Yeah. Yeah. That's interesting. We should be like, I like your top, cute top, but I wouldn't say that to a guy. Yeah.

I mean, maybe it's because women talk more and compliment each other more on their clothes. Yeah. That's interesting. So that's another one. I would put that in the category of a blouse, right?

Even though to say top could be anything. It could be a sweater, a jacket, a tank top. It could be anything, but it really is mostly used to refer to a woman's shirt. So if someone said to me, I wouldn't be surprised.

Like, oh, I like your top. But I wouldn't say that to my husband, for example, right? Right, right. This is incredibly nuanced and specific, right? You could say the company dress code requires employees to wear professional shirts.

So again, going to shirts instead of tops maybe, or that's a nice top. It's perfect for client meetings. Yeah. And you might say that to a girlfriend, to like a woman you work with, but if it's a man, I would just say shirt.

Oh, that's a nice shirt. Yeah, exactly. Or dress shirt. Now, I think dress shirt, let's see, this could be for both, right? I think so, too. I would call both, you know, and this is a nicer shirt, probably with a collar and buttons.

But yeah, I don't, it doesn't feel gendered to me, dress shirt. Yeah. It just gets dressed up in a different way. Just like, I don't know, a dress shirt is usually different for men and women, but dress shirt works.

So, yeah. So, what else? Any other examples there for that one? Yeah, you might say. I always wear a dress shirt when meeting new clients or you'll need a proper dress shirt to go with that suit.

I like this actually as because if we say shirt, that could be a t-shirt, that could be any kind of shirt. If you're wanting to be specific without having to say blouse or button up, you can say dress shirt and that removes the gender from it. Yes. Or you could say collared shirt.

Yeah. Women or men could wear a collared shirt. Don't you think? Yeah. Yeah. And this describes this feature of a shirt that it has a collar. So it is interesting how it for like...

if you have a blouse for a woman that's very delicate and flowy, like it would sort of be strange to call it a collared shirt, even if it had like a soft collar, right? Because when we say collared shirt, we really are envisioning that more business-y collar with buttons. Something more structured. Something more structured.

Yeah. Interesting. Yeah, that it can stand up on its own for sure. So we could say the dress code says employees should wear a collared shirt. Or at the office, most people wear collared shirts instead of t-shirts.

Yeah, that's a quick and easy way to get dressed up for work. Just put on a collared shirt and a pair of pants, right? Yeah. So this gives some great options, right?

If now that you realize, now that you know, or maybe you always knew that a blouse is really for like very feminine shirts, button up really is for men's shirts, there are these other ways to say the same thing. We have these other gender neutral options. Yeah. And then we also have polo shirt, which of course, men and women wear polo shirts.

This is very much like golf attire is what I think of it as it's that short sleeve shirt with a collar and a couple of buttons at the neck. Yeah. Do you know a lot of people who wear polo shirts, Lindsay? Oh,

I wouldn't say that I not necessarily but I know that people who have them so they so they wear them if they do go golfing or but I don't know that a lot of my friends wear polo shirts just it's a little preppy right yes right it's a definitely different style sort of specific style you might see people wearing them at conferences they're trying to dress up a little bit but it's still kind of business casual to wear a polo Mm-hmm. So again, I usually go for a polo shirt on casual Friday. So that's a good choice on a casual Friday.

Or our company branded attire includes a polo shirt. Okay. All right. Let's do a role play here. We are work friends and we're going on a business trip together and discussing what clothing we should bring.

All right. Here we go. Go ahead, Aubrey. All right. Hey, I'm excited for the upcoming trip. Have you started packing yet? No, but I think I know what I'm bringing.

Oh, what are you thinking in terms of dress shirts? I'll probably go with a few button downs paired with dress pants for our meetings. Oh, good idea. I'm packing a couple of collared shirts and a lightweight sweater.

Sweater is a good idea, especially if it gets cold at night. Are you bringing more casual tops for after work dinners and drinks? Probably just a nice blouse or two.

Nice. Oh, don't forget to bring your company polo shirt. We're supposed to wear it for the initial meet and greet event. Right. Thanks for reminding me.

I would have forgotten that. Oh, no worries. I'll see you tomorrow on the flight. Sounds good. See you then. Yeah, this is very typical that a company will put their brand on a polo shirt, right?

Right. We haven't done that yet at All Our English. Maybe one day. So you asked me, what are you thinking in terms of dress shirts? So that was the gender neutral option, right?

And this, I'm not getting specific. I'm asking you in general, like, what are you wearing that's not t-shirts? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Right. What are you wearing that you can pull off in a business scenario, right?

Exactly. Yep. And you said, I'll probably go with a few button downs paired with dress pants for our meetings. So this is, yeah, some kind of colored shirt that buttons all the way down.

And then you said, good idea. I'm packing a couple of collared shirts and a lightweight sweater. Okay. And then you referred to your tops, you know, like you or I would say, oh, I'm going to bring some casual tops.

But that is more for women's clothing. Yeah. And then blouse. I said blouse. You said blouse. Probably just a nice blouse or two. That's for going out.

Yeah. Often what you'll see is if you go to a conference or something, people will wear something a bit more structured during the day. And then usually there's parties or dinners and people will change into maybe – women will change into like blouses or something. Something a little lighter, more going out-y, more social.

Yeah. And it is interesting because so my husband travels a lot for work and he has to pack a lot less because he'll wear the same thing during the day to the conference probably as to dinner. That's not that different. Whereas women probably would change.

Probably. Yeah. That's not necessarily, but often, right? Especially if you're like hot, you've been in something all day, you want to put on a sleeveless top maybe.

So yeah, this is interesting. The more I looked in, when I was thinking about this, I'm like, wow, there are so many words that are specific to one gender or another, which does make it tricky if you are trying to be inclusive. If you don't want to make assumptions about someone's gender at work.

Yeah, for sure. So be careful. Don't worry if this feels overwhelming, guys. There is a lot of vocabulary here and it might be the first time you're hearing this, right?

So just take one or two of the phrases we've learned today and run with them and try them out, right? That's how we learn. Exactly, right? These are definitely not overly formal, none of them, right?

And we do talk about clothing a lot. And you want to be able to have these conversations. And luckily, I think most people, especially where you're learning a language, they know you're trying, no one's going to be stressed out if you call their shirt a blouse and they identify as a man. It's not the end of the world.

But I appreciate that our listeners, our students are often thinking about that. They want to use gender inclusive language. And so like now you have some really good options. Yeah.

Thanks guys for asking good questions. Remember, if you are a student in our courses, you get to attend the weekly Q&A. If you're a personal coach student, you get to meet with Aubrey and get all of your questions asked about your course or any additional questions that you have about the language, right? It's just a big Q&A session.

So check out our courses at allersenglish.com and go to episode 16, sorry, 617. Stick with us for business English success for your next episode today. Awesome. Scroll up if you missed that one.

And Lindsay, thank you for joining me. I think this is really fun. We do talk about clothing a lot if we're packing for a trip or if we're complimenting someone's new clothing and we want the vocab to do that at work. All right.

Talk soon, Aubrey. Take care. Bye. Awesome. Thanks. Bye. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.

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