Argyle is not a common name for a man, but argyle is a common pattern for socks and other hosiery — in other words, stockings. Stay with us here.
When John’s surprise limo driver Argyle (De’voreaux White) appears at the airport to pick him up and take him to Nakatomi, it’s an unexpected novelty. After dropping him off, Argyle pulls into the underground garage for no discernible reason and hangs out, waiting for John to get back to him, and then for the bulk of the movie stays there unacknowledged. It’s not until “Die Hard” is nearing its end that Argyle packs a punch, crashing into villain tech guy Theo (Clarence Gilyard Jr.) and knocking him unconscious, then surprising everyone by showing up to drive John and Holly home.
Not to be too on the nose, but Argyle the character actually does fill the role of a Christmas stocking quite well. To wit, Christmas stockings are hung on our mantelpieces and other high surfaces for no discernible reason, waiting to be filled with unexpected novelties and delightful surprises. Occasionally, their contents might shock us, packing an emotional punch. We generally don’t think about them until everything else is done, be it shopping for those elusive stocking stuffers or remembering what was in them along with everything else we got. Some may say we’re stretching the metaphor, but if you don’t stretch out your stockings you’ll never be able to fit anything good inside.