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I can't believe I actually found the time to start investigating this, but a Fez is actually quite difficult to categorise, and various dictionaries and encyclopedia have differing views on whether it is a hat or a cap.  It really is controversial.

A cap should have a low crown and no brim, or only a peak.  It's not a hat.

A hat should have a high crown, and usually a brim.  It's not a cap.

A Fez has a high crown but no brim.  Therefore, it remains difficult to categorise.

Does anyone know a Professor of Headgear that we can ask for a definitive ruling?

Next you'll be saying that a balaclava is a hat, when it's clearly a helmet.

...which is why I went on to completely contradict myself.

I was just trying to phase the hattists.  It hasn't worked, though - they've entered into the "chanting their catchphrase" mode of argument, which is difficult to dislodge without recourse to stumm gas and riot foam.

Maybe if I say "hat" when they're least expecting it, they'll say "cap" in response..?

Banana.

[fez]

I'd just like to completely contradict myself by making reference to The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English:

fez /fez/ (pl. fezzes) a flat-topped conical red cap with a tassel, worn by men in some Muslim countries.

Surely you don't trust a dictionary that attempts to pass off "flat-topped conical" as if it isn't a contradiction in terms?

Obviously a piece of internet tat written by some carbuncular ignoramous without correct and proper reference to the Linnaean Taxonomical Encyclopedia of Headgear.

I weep, not for me, but for the generations to come.

Invigilation duty drives people to do odd things:

Cap:  fez, beanie, beret, bonnet (Scots), skullcap, yarmulke, jockey, golf, baseball.

Hat: trilby, bonnet, pillbox, panama, stetson, beaver, boater, bowler (aka plug or derby), chapeau, fedora, millinery, sailor, skimmer, sombrero, stovepipe, ten-gallon (aka cowboy), topper (aka top hat).

Headdress: mitre, turban, chaplet, circlet, coronet, crown, coronal, diadem, garland, headband, wreath, bandana.

Now, don't get me started on helmets.

A platypus is still a platypus, whether your use it as a pet, or freeze it and use it to play croquet on the lawn.

Thus, a trilby is always a hat, whatever use you put it to.

Trilby is a hat, though.  (Well, specifically, a subspecies of Hat.)

Just in case you were beginning to think that nothing was a hat.

Mitre is a subspecies of Headdress, of the genus Headcovering.

Also not a hat.

According to my Linnaean Taxonomical Encyclopedia of Headgear (revised):

Fez is a supspecies of Cap, which is a species of the genus Headcovering.

Hat is also a species of the genus Headcovering.

Ergo, a Fez is not a Hat.

QED.

http://www.monkeyfezwaistcoat.co.uk/" target="_blank">zeitgeist

Are the people with the ultimately spurious arguments about a fez not being a hat (when it clearly is) also people that owe money on some kind of wager?

(And, astoundingly, also the Hershey by Parr, Mean & Death and WR Logan ones.)