Language – Dyed-in-the-wool

This adjective is defined in the Macquarie Dictionary (Online) as ‘through-and-through; complete; inveterate: a dyed-in-the-wool Liberal.

The Macquarie Dictionary goes on to note the term derives from the fact that wool dyed in its raw state, before being spun into thread or yarn, proved to be more evenly and permanently coloured.

The Cambridge Dictionary defines the term as ‘having opinions that are very strong, and do not change’. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the term as ‘thoroughgoing, uncompromising’.

In Coles Myer Ltd v Schwartz Family Co Pty Ltd [1993] NSWSC (8 March 1993), Young J (later Young JA) wrote [at page 22]:

Moreover there is the fact that all the checkouts (save one in the garden shop that I will mention later) of the K Mart/Coles Supermarket (30 of them) are situated in the end of the building closer to carpark I. Accordingly people who are only shopping in the Coles/K Mart would find it more convenient to enter the supermarket via the door linking the building with carpark I. When faced with this suggestion, Mr Tunno gave the rather surprising evidence that the entrance to carpark I was dangerous because there was a slight decline as one left the building and there were trucks passing from time to time in between the building and carpark I and thus he suggested it might be dangerous to use that entrance. The inevitable question came from Mr Harrison that if the entrance is so dangerous why wasn’t something done presently toward customers and did Mr Tunno think that it was acceptable for a few customers to be killed but unacceptable for a large number to be killed? I must confess I was not impressed with the evidence of Mr Tunno. Mr Kalkman, on the other hand, was a more impressive witness but did give me the impression that he was a dyed in the wool company man and that he truly believed that the carpark I was less valuable than carpark D. It may be that people if they use carpark I would not pass his garden shop.