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So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

LizzieMaine

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My mother had not only a violent temper -- which runs in our family -- but also violent PMS. Put the two together and she could be absolutely terrifying. One of my favorite memories of her is the day she completely demolished her soon-to-be-ex-second-husband's motorcycle with a sledgehammer. Without going into disturbing details, this act was entirely justified and so terrified said soon-to-be-ex that he never set foot on our property again.

I have inherited the family temper, but not the PMS, so I'm only half as terrifying as my ma. But my co-workers know what it sounds like when I lose it -- usually on the wrong end of an equipment malfunction, clogged drain, or leaking roof -- and they just roll their eyes and pretend not to notice.
 

2jakes

I'll Lock Up
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9,680
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Alamo Heights ☀️ Texas
My mother had not only a violent temper -- which runs in our family -- but also violent PMS. Put the two together and she could be absolutely terrifying. One of my favorite memories of her is the day she completely demolished her soon-to-be-ex-second-husband's motorcycle with a sledgehammer. Without going into disturbing details, this act was entirely justified and so terrified said soon-to-be-ex that he never set foot on our property again.

I have inherited the family temper, but not the PMS, so I'm only half as terrifying as my ma. But my co-workers know what it sounds like when I lose it -- usually on the wrong end of an equipment malfunction, clogged drain, or leaking roof -- and they just roll their eyes and pretend not to notice.

I cannot imagine you with a violent temper. But I’m basing it only on the PBS video .
I found you to be very charming, intelligent yet sensitive person that many admire .
But I will take your word that you have a temper & leave it at that & will look the other way & pretend not to notice when things malfunction. :eek:
 
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Stearmen

I'll Lock Up
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7,202
I knew a guy who used to be a prison guard at the time and he swore that baggy pants thing started in prisons as an invite for other prisoners that said baggy pants person was... well, willing to accept back door deliveries.
I've laughed and pointed that out to a few young thugs types wearing them like that over the years and every time, their eyes bug out, never having heard that before.
I'd like to think I stopped a couple of them from doing that.
I like what someone said just the other day at the post office when a 20-something on a skateboard went by looking like that with the pants down, "Why can't the young women do that as well? At least half the time I wouldn't be so disgusted!"

That's an urban legend! Think about it, all prisons and most jails, in the U.S. issue only jumpsuits. No belts, no waist band, and no way to show your unmentionables!
 
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That's an urban legend! Think about it, all prisons and most jails, in the U.S. issue only jumpsuits. No belts, no waist band, and no way to show your unmentionables!
These days, yes. But before jumpsuits became the norm shirts, pants, socks, shoes, and underwear were issued to each inmate, and that's where the "sagging pants are an indication of availability" urban legend came from.

The reality is that the prisons were responsible for issuing the aforementioned items of clothing, but didn't have the storage capacity of the average department store and were often out of stock in some sizes. Since they couldn't issue pants that were too small for a particular inmate to wear, they issued pants that were too large for that inmate. And since belts are not allowed in prisons, said inmates had no choice but to wear their too-large pants and let them sag until the prison received stock in their proper size. Sagging pants with the wearer's backside exposed may have become an indication of availability at some point, but that's not how it started.
 

LizzieMaine

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The current trend in jailwear is away from The Orange Jumpsuit and toward two-piece "scrubs" with pullover shirts and elastic-waisted pants. Convict stripes are also making a comeback, either as the traditional black and white or the more visible orange and white. Sagging is impossible with this sort of outfit.

As far as the purpose of sagging is concerned, I suspect its real explanation is simply as an "up yours" to mainstream society, in much the same way that zoot suits were an "up yours" to wartime America.
 
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p51

One Too Many
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Well behind the front lines!
A lot of people here in the Los Angeles area of southern California have adopted those same driving habits. It starts at the on-ramp, where people try to merge onto the freeway driving 20 MPH slower than the flow of traffic, and finally get up to speed (if they ever do, that is) a few miles down the road. Then they change lanes and slow down, cutting off the much larger trucks that are bearing down on them in the process. Eventually they make their way to the "fast" lane where they drive at least 10 MPH below the posted speed limit, forcing the drivers who are motivated to get where they're going to go around them.
Oh God yes, we have that here. People actually will slow down when merging into traffic here. It happens so often it's almost the standard now.
 

sheeplady

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Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, USA
It could just be a fashion, too. Lord knows bell bottoms had no rhyme or reason.

Also, I think part of the baggy trend (not so much the sagging) is because more fitted jeans are styled and cut too darned uncomfortable for a lot of men. The waists are too short and they don't have enough room to allow moving about comfortably. I have to buy my husband mail order jeans because he actually works in his clothes and needs to bend and move. (From Duluth trading, usa made which is an added bonus.)
 

p51

One Too Many
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Well behind the front lines!
Also, I think part of the baggy trend (not so much the sagging) is because more fitted jeans are styled and cut too darned uncomfortable for a lot of men. The waists are too short and they don't have enough room to allow moving about comfortably. I have to buy my husband mail order jeans because he actually works in his clothes and needs to bend and move. (From Duluth trading, usa made which is an added bonus.)
Seems that people back in the day really were smarter in some ways. Look at the wool trousers that US soldiers and marines wore in WW1. They had a really baggy backside area to allow for a lot of movement in the legs. At some point, that went out of style. Plenty of times on active duty, I felt the seat of my BDUs pulling against my backside as I was running, kneeling or otherwise creeping around.
 

fashion frank

One Too Many
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Woonsocket Rhode Island
The current trend in jailwear is away from The Orange Jumpsuit and toward two-piece "scrubs" with pullover shirts and elastic-waisted pants. Convict stripes are also making a comeback, either as the traditional black and white or the more visible orange and white. Sagging is impossible with this sort of outfit.

As far as the purpose of sagging is concerned, I suspect its real explanation is simply as an "up yours" to mainstream society, in much the same way that zoot suits were an "up yours" to wartime America.


The pants hanging low so people see your under drawers is from when you are arrested and they lock you up and take away your shoestrings ,belt and anything else that you could possibly hang yourself with so your pants have a tendency to sag down.

From that it morphed into "look at me I'm cool ,I've done time and I'm a thug" type of thing .
I read that awhile back in Atlanta Georgia they were arresting anyone walking around like that for indecent exposure wish they would do that everywhere .

In the recent new Three Stooges movie ( the Farley brothers from Rhode Island) there is a scene where they pull up a guys pants that are hanging low in an attempt to help the guy out and he turns around and states "I outta cap your a@@ " too funny for words.

All the Best,Fashion Frank
 

TimeWarpWife

One of the Regulars
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In My House
The current trend in jailwear is away from The Orange Jumpsuit and toward two-piece "scrubs" with pullover shirts and elastic-waisted pants....

Great, so now when you see someone out in public in scrubs you have no idea if they're an escaped convict or medical personnel. :eusa_doh: This is comparable to people in public talking to themselves because you're not quite sure if they're talking to someone on their Bluetooth or if they're simply crazy. No way to tell what's what anymore. This is why I spend so much time at home - at least here I know what kind of crazy I'm dealing with. :p
 

LizzieMaine

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That's why convict stripes are making a comeback -- medical personnel seldom wear them, so if you see a guy in bumblebee striped scrubs you can be pretty sure he's an escaped jailbird or a fantasy cosplayer gone out of control.
 

2jakes

I'll Lock Up
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Alamo Heights ☀️ Texas
This is comparable to people in public talking to themselves because you're not quite sure if they're talking to someone on their Bluetooth or if they're simply crazy. No way to tell what's what anymore. This is why I spend so much time at home - at least here I know what kind of crazy I'm dealing with. :p

I picked up a friend at the airport.
I asked the usual, “how are you doing ?"
He replied , “great” !.
But then he continued about the flight & the delay & something else.
I nodded & answered something like , "Oh that’s too bad !"


It wasn’t until about a minute later that it dawned on me that he wasn’t talking to me but was on that Bluetooth.
The fact that he was looking ahead & not giving me eye contact should’ve given me a clue. I was embarrassed at first
for not recognizing this but then I realized that he wasn’t aware of my mistake, so I didn’t feel too bad. :D
 
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I don't know how many times I've turned around in a public place saying "excuse me", thinking someone was speaking to me, only to find out they were talking into their Bluetooth device. Never had one, never will.
 
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11,376
Location
Alabama
I seem recall hearing or reading somewhere that baggy pants were adopted by gang members as a means to conceal weapons.

It started in the prisons but didn't become mainstream until hip-hop music did. The clothing worn in the earlier videos of some of the more famous hip-hop artists, and I use that term loosely, reflect this. I never cared for the look but I came to love the baggy jeans every time I was able to catch a knucklehead in a foot pursuit because his pants fell around his ankles.
 

p51

One Too Many
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Well behind the front lines!
I am utterly baffled how people can go all day talking to people on the phone if its a cell. Heck, I've never had that much to say to anyone in a given day.
I was at an airshow with my WW2 group last weekend and I watched a family of 4, each on a cell phone and having 4 different conversations, walking around the entire show, never having really stopped to see anything, interact with anyone, or for that matter, talking with anyone at the show at all. A couple of them gave running narratives for whatever person was on the other end. They each paid $15 for at best a minor distraction for each of them for an hour or so, never having left the phone off.
I swear, I have orders for people to kill me if I get like that. I text to a couple of friends of mine who live out of town and my family, I'll check online when I'm not in the middle of something (like ebay if a wanted item is soon ending) and to be available if my wife needs me and isn't with me. That's all my cell every gets used for.
And NO stinking blue tooth. That will never happen.
 

2jakes

I'll Lock Up
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9,680
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Alamo Heights ☀️ Texas
With respects to Mr. Bill Mauldin ! :D


What if !
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