"red hat" citation from Double-Tongued Dictionary

Catchword: red hat

Filed under: English, Employment, Jargon

Part of speech: n.

Quotation: Last year, for instance, fewer than 3,930 of the 10,726 people who went through basic mine safety training wound up as “red hats,” slang for new miners who have passed training exams, made it through a coal company’s screening process and been hired for their first mining job. During the first six months in a coal mine, a red hat is part of the uniform required to set novice miners apart from more experienced ones.

Article or document title:
“Mine jobs still alluring” (URL)

Author:
Kris Wise

Article, document, publication, web site:
Daily Mail

Publishing location:
Charleston, West Virginia

Date of publication:
June 21, 2006

This catchword has yet to be researched.

Posted 21 Jun 06 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Comments:

Red Hat also has a common useage in women's fashion -- denoting women "of a certain age" who have decided to cut loose and get colorful. The concept comes from the poem by Jenny Joseph:

Warning
By Jenny Joseph

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people's gardens...

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
~~~~~~~~~~
More at

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-red-hat-society.htm
by Scott 22 Jun 06, 0357 GMT