The other day at lunch Talia (a fellow EL major) was talking about a funny incident she had asking her friend for advice on hairstyles, particularly to do with 'fringe'. She said something like "should I cut fringe or no fringe?" and her friend found it hilarious because she interpreted it as Talia asking if she should or should not have any fringe at all, meaning no hair at the front of her face/head (you know, that part of the head). The word her friend would find more acceptable would be something like 'bangs' and I thought this was really interesting how the use of the word 'fringe' has increased to include describing hair.

according to dictionary.com:
bang  /bæŋ/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [bang] Show IPA


–noun 1. Often, bangs. a fringe of hair combed or brushed forward over the forehead.


fringe  /frɪndʒ/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [frinj] Show IPA noun, verb, fringed, fring⋅ing.


–noun 1. a decorative border of thread, cord, or the like, usually hanging loosely from a raveled edge or separate strip.

2. anything resembling or suggesting this: a fringe of grass around a swimming pool.

3. an outer edge; margin; periphery: on the fringe of the art world.

4. something regarded as peripheral, marginal, secondary, or extreme in relation to something else: the lunatic fringe of a strong political party.

5. Optics. one of the alternate light and dark bands produced by diffraction or interference.

However, according to the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary:


fringe noun (HAIR)


/frɪnd ʒ/ n [C]

UK (US bangs) an area of hair hanging over the forehead (= part of the face above the eyes) that is cut shorter than the rest of the hair
 
Hence according to dictionary.com, fringe would point to the position being peripheral or on the outer portion while bangs refer to hair on the fringe of the forehead, while Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary would classify fringe as referring to hair in the UK context as one of the uses and it's equivalent in the US context as bangs.

CONFUSING ISN'T IT?
Well, what I got from all this was that, words can take on many different meanings for different people, AND also, probably due to our massive exposure to American media and television shows and what not, the word 'bangs' (used in US context) has invaded our vocabulary (for some at least) and made 'bangs' a more acceptable word than 'fringe' (UK context) when talking about hair at that part of your head which is shorter than the rest of your hair (if we're basing it on Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary of course) :)