Tag Archives: trivia

So THAT’s Why Coat ‘Tails’ Start Off Sewn Up

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Attending a Christmas market recently, TikToker @_ohhellojo noticed something she thought was linked to people getting new coats over the festive season; many of them still had their back flaps sewn shut.

In the comments, netizens wondered why the thread existed to begin with. “I don’t get why they sew it together if it’s not meant to be together,” one response reads.

“Maybe they need to put a little reminder tag on there. BECAUSE WHY WOULD PPL KNOW THIS!?,” yet another TikTok user wrote.

So, we thought we’d share why coat “tails” – which are actually the garment’s vent – are often sewn shut when new.

Why are coat “tails” sewn shut?

Dr Brett Staniland, a sustainable fashion expert, said in an Instagram Reel that this X-shaped stitch is called a “basting stitch” or “tacking stitch”.

They’re placed at the bottom of the coat’s centre vent, at the back.

These are “temporary stitches left in by the maker before the final sewing is done. But they’re also kept in to prevent the garment being damaged or wrinkled during transportation, or when they’re sat in shops”.

Esquire agreed that it helps the garment to keep its shape before wear.

The publication added that removing this stitch should be the first thing you do when you get a new coat.

Cut them with some scissors “to prevent the rest of the fabric from being damaged” rather than ripping the threads apart with your hands, Dr Stanilard said, and you should be good to go.

Why do some coats have “vents” to begin with?

The back slit on some coats and jackets is called a “vent”. It was originally created so gentlemen could sit more comfortably on the back of a horse – it split over the saddle rather than bunching around the riders’ hips.

Some coats and suit jackets also have side vents.

Though wearers aren’t as likely to hop on a steed these days, the addition still allows for a greater range of movement than no-vent options.

That’s why cutting the stitch in your coat’s centre vent (at the back) will offer “better movement as you go about your day”.

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Buddy The Elf Was Almost Played By A Different Actor

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The film came out over 20 years ago (2003, would you believe it) and still, Elf is a family favourite in many households. In fact, in an ongoing survey by Newsround, Elf is currently the third most popular Christmas film in the UK, just behind Nativity and Home Alone, which has taken the top spot.

Along with Anchorman which came out in 2004, Elf is one of the films that comedian and actor Will Ferrell is known for. He plays Buddy with such whimiscal charm that it was one of his career-defining roles.

However, the actor wasn’t the first choice for the flick and was actually given it a decade after the original script was written.

The actor originally chosen to play Buddy the Elf

So, the script for Elf was written way back in 2003 by David Berenbaum and according to film website Screen Rant, the role was written with actor Jim Carrey in mind.

This may be surprising but this same year, the actor was filming Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and starring in In Living Color. He really was just about to become a comedy giant in Hollywood. Screen Rant also explain: “Given his wild and zany characters on In Living Color, Carrey was seen as a natural for the goofiness and playfulness needed to play Buddy the Elf.”

While I personally prefer Jim Carrey, it really is hard to imagine anybody but Will Ferrell playing the role and it turns out, the actor thought the exact same.

He and screenwriter Adam McKay took on the script after several years of stagnation and decide to make it themselves with director Jon Favreau. The film originally had a darker tone but this trio made it into the modern fairytale that we see on our screens every year now.

Elf is available to stream on Netflix UK.

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People Are Just Realising Stuart Little Isn’t A Mouse, And I Need To Lie Down

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There are some things I thought I could take for granted. I always assumed paprika came from some spicy variety of pepper, but while traditional ones can contain varying degrees of heat, many large manufacturers use a type of sweet bell pepper instead.

I’d believed “wi-fi” stood for something, like “wifeless fidelity,” too. Nope: its name “doesn’t stand for anything. It is not an acronym. There is no meaning”.

But even I, a person who could fairly be described as “professionally bemused,” was uniquely surprised to learn that Stuart Little is not actually a mouse.

And looking at the responses to an X post from film critic and editor of Slash Film, Chris Evangelista, it seems I’m not alone.

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I’ve just now learned that in the STUART LITTLE book, Stuart is not actually a mouse but a human boy who looks like a mouse, and I don’t know how to process this pic.twitter.com/W2mGvwWula

— Chris Evangelista (@cevangelista413) December 8, 2025

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I’ve just now learned that in the STUART LITTLE book, Stuart is not actually a mouse but a human boy who looks like a mouse, and I don’t know how to process this pic.twitter.com/W2mGvwWula

— Chris Evangelista (@cevangelista413) December 8, 2025

In the books, Stuart Little is a human

The film Stuart Little is based on the book Stuart Little by EB White (also the author of Charlotte’s Web).

And I sincerely regret to inform you that the first chapter of that cursed tome novel, “In The Drain,” begins in this haunting manner:

“When Mrs Frederick C. Little’s second son arrived, everybody noticed that he was not much bigger than a mouse. The truth of the matter was, the baby looked very much like a mouse in every way. He was only about two inches high; and he had a mouse’s sharp nose, a mouse’s tail, a mouse’s whiskers, and the pleasant, shy manner of a mouse. Before he was many days old he was not only looking like a mouse but acting like one, too – wearing a grey hat and carrying a small cane. Mr and Mrs Little named him Stuart, and Mr Little made him a tiny bed out of four clothespins and a cigarette box.

So, while publisher Harper Collins markets the children’s book as a “classic novel about a small mouse… born to a family of humans,” the perhaps less invested Britannica is more alive to its body horror realities.

It is, they point out, about a “two-inch-tall boy who resembles a mouse”.

Which begs the question, A24 Stuart Little remake when?

People had… thoughts

In response to the recent X post, one netizen called the news “disturbing”.

Another pointed to the historical myth of sooterkins. These were believed to be the rat-like afterbirth of some Dutch women (great! Normal!).

But it is not the first time innocent internet users have become aware of the fact.

A post shared to Reddit’s r/todayilearned pointed out the “mouse”’s true species in 2018.

“He also tries to get frisky/date a girl who is tiny like him and looks like a human,” wrote u/Atoning_Unifex.

Yup, that’d be Harriet Ames, who does not look like a mouse. Stuart got the hots for her after hearing that she was a little “shorter” than him, and after a shopkeeper “gave [him] a most favourable report of [her] character and appearance”.

They did not work out. But notably, Stuart Little began a letter to her by saying, “I am a young person of modest proportions” (italics mine).

All in all, I’m with u/MattheJ1: “If I were Mr Little, I’d be asking some questions”.

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