Quote Originally Posted by auld argonian View Post
I'm sure that this story is apocryphal, but my mom always told me that buttons were originally placed on the sleeves by Napoleon. The story goes that the Emperor was disgusted by the table manners of the officers with whom he often took meals. The particular thing that drove him up the wall was their tendency to wipe both their mouths and their runny noses on their sleeves. Now, as we all know, It's Good To Be The King...and even better to be the Emperor; so he decreed that buttons be sewn on the sleeves to deter the behaviour that he found so reprehensible.

...or so the story goes...


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I have heard that too, but most likely the buttons were originally to keep the cold wind from coming up your sleeve! I have found it is best to discount any, if not all neat explanations, I seem to remember that during the Nepoleonic wars, the British petty officers had a row of brass buttons around the cuff of their uniforms. . . . I am quite sure that the Brits would NOT follow a fashion dictated by Napoleon!