Well we now have a new catchphrase in politics, the “Fetterman rule.”

This of course refers to Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman’s penchant for dressing like a slob in formal settings, such as when the Senate is in session.

For reasons unclear Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced the rules would be relaxed. Almost immediately Sen. Joe Manchin (D- WVa) announced he is preparing a bipartisan resolution to re-institute the dress code.

There’s a few things odd about this. Oh heck there’s a lot of things odd about this!

To begin with it’s not clear from news reports there is a formal written dress code. Nobody has trotted one out or quoted from it. And if there is one, would the Senate Majority Leader be able to just waive the rules or would they have to vote on it?

It turns out there have been rule changes for women in the Senate in the past. Open toed shoes and sleeveless dresses have been debated at times. But for men it’s always been a suit and tie affair.

But is it a formal rule codified somewhere or has it just been an understanding that people dress to a certain standard when conducting serious business?

I confess I’d never considered these things before, because I’m kind of a slob myself. Formal wear for me is jeans and a T-shirt. At home loungewear is sweats.

Lately I’ve considered that I really ought to dress more befitting my venerable age, so I’ve been buying khaki jeans and taking care to wear collared T-shirts in public.

That’s only partly tongue-in-cheek. When I was a full-time rural reporter I had to strike a balance. On any given day I didn’t know if I’d have to drop by the Chamber of Commerce offices – or go wading through the muck on a pig farm.

And here in the northern Midwest the rule is, dress code defaults to WARM in winter.

But though personally I agree with Thoreau’s advice to, “Beware of enterprises that require new clothes,” something about this is bothering me.

Of course I’m of an age when any change can be expected to bother me. But I can’t help but think this means something more than Fetterman’s irritating working class affectations.

This is something like what we call in linguistics “register.”

Register is the way we use language in different circumstances. Very simply put register can be formal or informal, but most linguists use five categories: frozen, formal, consultative, casual, and intimate.

Frozen is found in legal language and sacred texts. Formal is used in professional, legal, or academic settings and is expected to be respectful and uninterrupted.

In a legislative body for example, a frozen register would be used for a ritualized opening and closing of the meeting, and perhaps a prayer or invocation. Business would be conducted using a formal register and the testimony of expert witnesses might tend towards a consultative register.

In back room horse trading they’d revert to a casual register. You may guess where they’d use an intimate register.

It occurs to me the idea of register can be applied to dress, because dress too is a communications channel. It signifies at a glance whether the occasion is formal, casual, or festive.

Think of a wedding dress in terms of frozen register for example.

And this I think is why Fetterman’s ostentatious dressing down is bothering a lot of people on both sides of the aisle. Because dressing the way he does implies the Senate is not a serious place where respectable men conduct serious business.

— Steve Browne is a longtime reporter and contributor to the Marshall Independent