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"You are not your f***ing khakis" - What does "khakis" exactly mean in the Fight Club movie?

English Language & Usage Asked by ERJAN on June 17, 2021

You are not the car you drive
You are not your fucking khakis!

I absolutely love Fight Club – this is a cult movie.

I know that khakis mean a special color used for army dresses; but I want to know what it means in the context of the movie. What did Tyler Durden mean by this?

What does khakis mean?

4 Answers

I'm surprised no one has mentioned what khakis actually means in some non-rhotic accents. Non-rhotic accents are ones in which the r sound is only pronounced when it's followed by a vowel (e.g. right); the r is silent elsewhere. Khakis is a humorous pronunciation-spelling of car keys in some areas of the USA (such as Boston). The r is silent because it's followed by a consonant, so it's pronounced KAH-KEEZ which could alternatively be spelt khakis.

Here's an illustration from A Historical Phonology of English by Donka Minkova (p274):

khakis - car keys

I assume it also means car keys in the quote in the OP:

You are not the car you drive
You are not your fucking khakis! [car keys]

Correct answer by Decapitated Soul on June 17, 2021

"Khakis" is often used to refer to pants (that are khaki-colored, or made of the khaki textile). For example, Old Navy has a khakis page that lists various pants and one specific to men's khakis.

In the context of the movie, khakis are another 'material good' that Tyler denounces, like cars, ikea furniture, etc.

Answered by rafd on June 17, 2021

Maybe I have a clue. Sir Terence Conran, a founder of Habitat, an advocate of design and minimalism, supposedly said, "I am not my khakis"

Meaning:

The stuff you own, wear, etc. does not define you. This is not about a higher status symbol. This is just about things / stuff in general. I suppose the minimalistic rhetoric of Fight Club refers to this sentense, because it is a symbol of not beeing addicted to material posessions.

Answered by user219165 on June 17, 2021

The character Tyler Durden is referring to a popular commercial (late 1990's) from The Gap clothing company. It showed people dancing to swing music (a retro trend at the time) to promote their khakis pants. His line is mocking the vapid materialistic commercialism of the era. Which is sadly tame compared to now in 2021.

Answered by moly bdenum on June 17, 2021

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