the.com/motley
what a crowd looks like when nobody checked outfits before leaving the house.
means Made up of wildly different kinds or colors mixed together, especially in a messy, oddly-matched way.
from From Middle English 'motteley,' describing cloth woven from threads of different colors — the exact root is unclear, though it may connect to 'mote' (a speck or particle), as if the fabric were speckled with mismatched bits. It became the name for the parti-colored coats worn by court jesters, which is why calling something 'motley' still carries a faint whiff of clowning around.
- original meaning
- a jester's multicolored patchwork costume.
- shakespeare loved it
- as you like it calls fools wise in motley.
- now means
- wildly mixed, not just visually clashing.
- band bonus
- motley crue just added vowels for drama.