What's this called? POLL

[Kiki]

Those are coats. If someone went to a store over here and asked for a "puffer" they would most likely get paraded around the store and be publicly humiliated for asking such a question

 

[Kiki]

When you have a lot of something, you need words to describe different kinds.

So chickens, ducks, and geese are kinds of birds.
Rocks and Wyandottes and Leghorns are kinds of chickens.
Barred Rock and White Rock are kinds of Rocks.

Or shirts and pants are kind of clothing.
Jeans and sweatpants are kinds of pants.
T-shirt and sweatshirt and polo shirt are kinds of shirts.

Northerners need ways to describe different kinds of coat, so we have puffer and windbreaker and parka and so on.

Many kinds of "coat" can also be jackets, but not all of them. Jackets are not ankle-length (like a trench coat), and jackets are more likely to be light in weight (summer jacket vs. winter coat.)

Of the terms in the poll, I've never heard of "warmer" being used to describe such a garment, but it might be common in another part of the country. I've encountered all the other terms you list.

I would typically use "coat" for all the things in the pictures, "windbreaker" for a different style of thing, "jacket" as a synonym for windbreaker, and "puffer" only if I had to distinguish that particular kind of coat from some other kind. The white one in the picture is not a "puffer," but I don't have a special word for that style of coat.

I made up the dumb word warmer because it's equally as silly as puffer to me.

 

[NatJ]

I made up the dumb word warmer because it's equally as silly as puffer to me.

Puffer makes some sense if you look at how puffy that kind of coat is.

It's not a word I'm in the habit of using, but I've encountered it before, and I recognize what it refers to: a particular style of coat, that is very obviously puffy in a way that many other styles are not.

 

[NC_Quail]

Is this going to become like the asparagus thread?

 

[Isadora]

Is this going to become like the asparagus thread?

If it is, I'm out right now.

 

[The Moonshiner]

D@mn I'm gonna have to agree with Keeks.
A puffer has two meanings to me. Neither is any type of coat and both should of made the urban dictionary.

 

[Isadora]

D@mn I'm gonna have to agree with Keeks.
A puffer has two meanings to me. Neither is any type of coat and both should of made the urban dictionary.

 

[The Moonshiner]

You may just want to put me on ignore.

 

[Isadora]

You may just want to put me on ignore.

Don't tempt me.

 

[Brooks_]

Don't tempt me.

But think of all you'd be missing.