get one's linen on

English translation: let's go mingle, be politely social

09:58 Feb 25, 2022

English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature

English term or phrase: get one's linen on

I'm translating a novel, and the context for the phrase is the following:

Two sisters (in their 20s) arrive at a beach picnic and have the following conversation:
“Right. Let’s go get our linen on.”
“I refuse to be seen in public with anyone who says, ‘get our linen on’”.
“It’s repulsive, I agree”.

Earlier, the scene has been described:
"We stop at the top of the high dune. Down below us, a hundred yards to the right, there’s a crowd of linen."

Now, my questions are:
1. Does 'linen' here refer to picnic blankets/table cloths?
2. 'Crowd of linen' would therefore be 'lots of picnic blankets', and 'get our linen on' would be 'spread our picnic blanket', right?
3. Why does the younger sister say “I refuse to be seen in public with anyone who says, ‘get our linen on’"? What kind of people is the phrase associated with? The family comes from New York but the older sister now lives in California - could it be that it's a geographical difference in language use? Or rather, a class difference - or something else?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Tuulia Tipa KudoZ activity Questions: 24 (none open) (3 without valid answers) (1 closed without grading) Answers: 13 Germany
Local time: 20:00

Selected answer:let's go mingle, be politely social

Explanation:
Medium confidence as not sure what this expression means. I have never seen it before and there are very few Ghits for it. But the context indicates this is the meaning.

I read the earlier part of the chapter and also the part following this expression. So, it's a summer evening. Not a time for lying around sunbathing on the beach There is a bonfire and the smell of barbeques but no picnics are mentioned in the part I read.
1. no, not here. I really can't see anything about picnic blankets.

2. crowd of linen: metonymy for a crowd of people dressed in linen (perfect fabric for a summer evening and indication of well-heeled status, genteel, well-mannered).
We would not use "crowd" to describe inanimate objects like picnic blankets imo

3. Possibly something said more often in California as an alternative to "get yur groove on" (as suggested by Sheri in Dbox)?
Though I can't find any evidence for this.
The younger sister is joking and teases her elder sister Anna who fully agrees that the expression "is repulsive" and then cracks up (laughs)

So I THINK it means OK we'd better stop messing around having fun. (they have just been rolling around in the sand) Need to be more sedate and go mingle, talk nicely, be polite, make meaningless conversation...
So the opposite of "air your dirty linen in public" as they give nothing away

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Note added at 2 hrs (2022-02-25 12:32:22 GMT)
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typo "yur "=your

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Note added at 2 hrs (2022-02-25 12:39:00 GMT)
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so basically the opposite of washing dirty linen in public I think
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/to-wash...

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Note added at 1 day 1 hr (2022-02-26 11:45:24 GMT) Post-grading
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Ah, that makes sense that it is an an annual social event. Glad to have helped. I feel more confident now that it's about getting our polite socialising faces on and making meaningless conversation.

Selected response from:

Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Local time: 19:00

Grading comment

Thanks, this was really helpful. Yes, it's not a picnic in traditional sense, but elsewhere in the book it's called "beach picnic" (annual event)
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

3 +2

let's go mingle, be politely social

Yvonne Gallagher

Discussion entries: 3

Answers

2 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

let's go mingle, be politely social

Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Local time: 19:00
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 317

Grading comment

Thanks, this was really helpful. Yes, it's not a picnic in traditional sense, but elsewhere in the book it's called "beach picnic" (annual event)

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

Tony M: I think the idea is that 'linen' clothes would be smarter, so it means 'tidy ourselves up a bit' — and possibly with a faint whiff of 'gird our loins'...

1 hr

-> Thanks Tony, yes, something along those lines. Linen seen as classic stylish and elegant for summerd and yes, there seems to be a whiff of "gird our loins"

agree

Sheri P: Good explanation. The “get your X on” slang construction is used throughout the US in a wide variety of contexts//this may be diff usage than your skates/coat ex. A knitter friend once said to me: “let’s go get our yarn on” at a wool festival. It’s cheeky

1 hr

-> Thanks Sheri. Yes we use the "get our skates/coats etc on consruction too. Just never saw this one. Possibly coined just then by Anna, the elder sister?

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English translation: let's go mingle, be politely social

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