FOSNAQ: Anglicanism: 1

[tree_and_leaf]

The first question came from liadnan, and was seconded by cjbanning:

Is Anglo-Catholic tat like Roman Catholic tat? My friend once found a loo roll holder that played Ave Maria, although my own personal favourite is the clock that plays Tantum Ergo on the hour. (I am also the proud owner of the 2010 Westminster Cathedral Chapter Calendar. Vince Nichols is Mr January.)

I had referred to tat in the original post; I'm now wondering if this is an exclusively British term, as cjbanning, an American Anglo-Catholic, didn't know it.

Anyway: 'tat' in Anglican use (not just Anglo-Catholic usage, at least among the clergy; evangelical laypeople probably have no need of the term) does not mean tacky gifts or devotional objects, which are not generally an Anglican thing,* apart from those Archbishoply Christmas tree ornaments which look vaguely like ++Rowan and ++John. Rather, it is the accepted slang term for vestments (stoles, albs, cottas, cassocks, chasubles, etc., and sometimes by extension clerical shirts, though those aren't technically vestments). It's generally used with a degree of irony or self-satire, and mostly by people who do get quite fussy about vestments, and who will go off on lengthy rants about how much they hate cassock albs. They probably also have Watts & Co's homepage bookmarked, and procrastinate by looking for antique vestments on eBay. They will undoubtedly also have strong views, one way or the other, on the subject of lace.

See also: tat queen, n., derogatory (or self-ironic), a cleric or lay person who spends an inappropriate amount of time (or: slightly more time than you do) thinking about tat, or who favours more lace than you do. E.g. "Did you see John's new alb? Lace from the nipples down! He's such a tat queen!"

tat fair, n., sale of vestments/ clerical garments, usually in context of clerical suppliers hawking their wares round theological colleges.

* Though this doesn't stop Anglo-Catholics having a fine collection of tacky Roman Catholic objets d' - something. I, alas, can only boast a glow-in-the-dark figurine of Our Lady of Loreto (she's very handy; if I leave my keys next to her, I can find them in the dark), but you've got to start somewhere.

Comments

[el_staplador]

My father, who is otherwise Prayer Book Mattins through and through, is very keen on tacky RC stuff. He has a soppy postcard of Our Lady in the cab of his bus; he claims that this is because she is an RC bus. This doesn't go very far to explain the amount of high Victoriana in the house...

[tree_and_leaf]

Tacky Roman Catholic stuff is weirdly compelling. I'm not sure why.

[em_h]

"Tat" definitely in Anglican Church of Canada use, at least in the Anglo-Catholic parts of it, in the same sense as the UK (as you'll have gathered already from my 'clerical tat count', which I need to update post-deaconing).

[tree_and_leaf]

Good point; perhaps it's just less widespread among the US laity? I had certainly heard it many times before I went to seminary (actually,come to think of it, the relevant factor is probably hanging about with servers...)

[morganmuffle]

You know I think that meaning of tat is something I've ever heard of from clergy/clergy in training.

Took me FOREVER to realise they weren't just using the tacky gifts meaning referring to someone's alb.

[dejla]

In a purely irreverent mode, which will tell you where my mind wanders in irrelevancy, your glow-in-the-dark Madonna reminds me of a song from Cool Hand Luke.

"I don't care if it rains or freezes,
long as I got my plastic Jesus,
sitting on the dashboard of my car...
Comes in colors pink and pleasant,
Glows in the dark and it's iridescent...
Carry it with you when you travel far."

And thank you for the definition of 'Tat'!