Right on the button!

I decided to rent a suit for my son's wedding in April. I don't wear one often enough to justify buying one. Suit styles change more often than I wear suits. I got measured here in my home town, then called the measurements down to a dealer in Arizona. The suit, shirt, and tie will be waiting for me when I get there.

Speaking of suit styles, there is one feature that has had me stumped for a number of years: Why are there buttons on the outside of suit jacket sleeves?

I've seen as many as four buttons on some suit jacket sleeves. It doesn't seem like a very practical place for spare buttons. Suit sleeves don't button at the cuff like shirt sleeves. So... why put buttons there?

Well, I found an answer in a book called "The Straight Dope". I say it's "an answer" not "the answer" because it still sounds bizarre to me. Here is what I found: Frederick the Great, of Prussia, loved the spectacle of seeing his troops lined up for inspection in their natty uniforms. Unfortunately, many of the Prussian soldiers had a nasty habit of wiping their sweaty brows, runny noses, dirty hands, and seeping wounds on the sleeves of their natty uniforms. So, Frederick decreed that buttons be sewn on the sleeves in the general vicinity of nose/brow/wound/hand wiping to discourage such practice. Hence, the uniforms stayed natty to the max. As uniforms morphed into dress attire for men, the buttons migrated from mid-sleeve to their present location at the cuff.

Now that the buttons are out of the way, I can wipe my nose on my suit sleeve without fear of "button-rash". That'll be great! Besides, it's only a rental.