Oo! Goldie! One of my very favoritest words. Blowing me ownest horn...

***

Alger had described Cally — in one of those dozen-score stories he kept tucked away in his drawer and was afraid to send out — as tatterdemalion. It fit her. Cally was tatterdemalion and tatterdemalion was Cally.

The first thing you noticed about her was the contrast between her cotton-white mop of hair and her nut-brown skin. Being as she was a natural blonde, you wouldn't think she could develop and keep that smooth, even, deep tan, but she did.

The second thing you noticed about her was just how much of that tan skin you could see. Like now. She was wearing a gray sweat shirt with the sleeves hacked off and the bottom cropped up to her ribs. The front and back hung free, with no attachment at the sides. She was built like a boy almost, quite small-breasted, and could get away without wearing a bra.

The thing about Cally was what she could get away with, she would do. She always took advantage — to and beyond the outside edge of the envelope. Not content with the exposure achieved by de-sleeving and cropping the sweat shirt, Cally had taken a razor blade to what was left of the poor thing and made a series of horizontal slits across it, front and back. They left very little to the imagination. Then there were the jeans, which had been similarly attacked with a razor.

All-in-all, the amount of flesh exposed left Dolly wondering, "Why bother?" Why not just go naked? Not that Cally wouldn't strip to the buff at the drop of a hint. She liked being naked and didn't mind sharing. And she had the cutest little butt...

(from "Writer's Block" by Mark Philip Alger -- available here.)

[not looking at above comment or answer]

I'll use it in a sentence:

"After she finished playing a naughty game of "pirate hostage", Goldie's dress was tatterdemalion ways to Sunday."

I think tatterdemalion is a tatter teller who likes demastrate his skill with lions, I think.

A demon wearing tattered clothing!

*clicks for answer*

Ok, not far off!!

It's a gourmet French potato. Combine with tarragon, creme fraiche and whole grain mustard, toss into a green salad and accompany with a glass of finest Chablis.

Am I close?

how freakin weird! since i have that word a day thing on my site as well, i JUST looked it up before coming here. so i guess that's old news fo me.

did you know that there was a marvel comic book character named Tatterdemalion? I googled that.

Heh. I just keep seeing a hairy horned dude who likes to eat them french fried taters uh huh...