Hair Today

Sometimes I feel like the English language is leaving me behind.

When I saw this sign in front of a beauty salon last week, I was confounded for a minute. UPDOS ... some version of MS-DOS, perhaps? Maybe something from Hindu?

Then I realized it was UP + DO + S, like when a woman with long hair piles it up on top of her head. Hairdo - hair + up = Updo. Of course. I've heard it said, but never seen it written, let alone considered what its plural form would look like.

"Party Hair" helped me out a bit by providing context, although I have to say that party hair seems like an odd construction all its own -- as if it wasn't really your hair, but some special hair you rent just for going to parties. Perhaps it comes attached to the lower edge of a lampshade, and all you have to do is put it on your head, climb up on a table and start dancing.

(Sign seen on Snelling Avenue in St. Paul, Minn.)