Update: apparently I'm wrong about this, from Ed in a reddit AMA: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1flpnm/comment/cabgujs/. Unless Steven once had an interest in needlecraft? Oh well, sorry everyone.
#TIL in some sort of Canadian eureka moment that the line in Barenaked Ladies' "If I Had $1000000" is
"I would buy you a green dress
But not a real green dress, that's crewel"
As in crewel embroidery, not "cruel". The dress isn't green, but the embroidery makes it look green. It's both a pun and rhyming with the earlier fur coat line.
Over 30 years of my getting this wrong. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crewel_embroidery
Edited 31d ago