I would believe that the black boys are more inclined to wear jackets, because I am currently in the process of propagating the stereotype that black people are smarter than white people. It's mainly based on voting behaviors, though there are other factors at work.
I think boys don't like to wear jackets b/c:
(a) they expect to be playing hard (kickball, b-ball, etc) when they are outside,
(b) they'll have to take their jacket off for (a),
(c) only girls keep track of clothing (it actually is sort of pain to remember anything when you are young and male), and
(d) mom gets very upset when you return home after having lost your jacket.
That's what I remember thinking.
Also, you're never cold as soon as you step out the door. To wear a jacket would be to betray a feminine farsightedness.
You're surprised about the jacket thing? I'm surprised that you see kids walking to school at all, instead of being dropped off by their parents or nannies.
As a kid, I was forever losing my coats. After a while, it's less trouble to just go without and avoid the parental berating. Also, my internal thermostat is busted such that I'm comfortable in short sleeves down to about 55-60 degrees and in a light sweater down to freezing or so. I start complaining about the heat when it breaks 75, which in North Carolina means I'm annoying as hell from late April through mid-October.
So yeah, I rarely wore a jacket as a kid (and I walked to school nearly all the way through), but it wasn't for reasons of appearance.
Fascinating. I never lost a jacket. I think I lost a hat once, and it still bothers me. But I have to admit that the "would rather not lose it" explanation makes sense. Though I'm not quite ready to give up the notion that suffering cold is macho.
Bob, it is surprising, isn't it? The kids and I navigate a phalanx of SUVs and station wagons, but there are quite a few walkers.
I can second Apostrophe's experience regarding temperature.
I'd go further and flip the question around and wonder what the hell is wrong with all those people who wear long pants and/or long sleeves when it's 90 degrees and humid.
Reminds me of a joke from back in kidtime:
Q: How can you tell when you're mom is cold?
A: She makes you put on a coat.
As with apostropher and skippy, I remember resisting putting on a coat at a young age simply because I wasn't cold, and/or I knew I'd be running around later and would get hot or have to keep track of the coat. Later it was just some innate resistance of mine to being mothered over that drove me to brave the cold coatless.
Sort of related: when I lived in Scotland, it was common for girls (by which I mean young lassies) to go out on the town at night, even in January, in about two ounces of clothing. You might think this would be a good thing for leering male eyes, but they just looked miserable and blue with cold (not to mention slatternly; as profgrrrl said, less is often more). They inspired in me not lust so much as a desire to offer them a blanket.
Of course the clubs they were on the way to were all hot and sweaty, so I'm sure they looked better indoors once they got some blood flowing to their extremities again. But most of the clubs had coat checks anyway, so I think what drove the bikini-in-winter look was just the notion that big coats are unsexy.
When I was in 4th and 5th grade I lived in Florida. It was a point of pride for me that I NEVER wore long pants to school. Why, I'm not sure. Nonetheless, I distinctly recall a day or two when it plunged into the mid-30s (and that was cold in Central FL) and I insisted on wearing shorts contrary to my mother's exhortations. Perhaps the boys that ogged has observed are similarly stubborn?
Ok, MM, we need a list of places you've lived. Off the top of my head, I've got Texas, New York, Scotland, and China.
Most of my life has been lived n Austin, Texas, which, by the way, is a great place.
Other than that, in chronological order:
A summer on San Juan Island, up off the coast of Washington state.
A summer in Sligo, in the west of Ireland.
Almost a year in London (specifically, East Dulwich).
About five and a half years in China, the first year in Jiaxing (in Zhejiang province), the remainder in Shanghai.
A year in Edinburgh, Scotland.
And so far about four months in NYC, with vague plans of either moving back to Edinburgh (where my fiancee and I met) or to Athens, Greece (where my fiancee is from). We both love it here in New York, but on the whole employment prospects for both of us will probably be better outside the States.
Sound like good travels. You must have a very funny accent. I'm curious about this: employment prospects for both of us will probably be better outside the States
Man, don't go to Athens. Go to Thessaloniki.
The bulk of my life, especially the formative years, were spent in Austin (which has lots of in-migration do to its huge research university), so my accent is squarely American Neutral (i.e. Americans say "you don't reallly have an accent"). It's been further blandified by years spent teaching English as a second language.
As for the employment prospects, I phrased that awkardly, but what I meant was that, as a couple, we're more likely to both be able to get jobs we like or can at least tolerate in Europe, at least until we get around to opening up our Bakery / Cafe.
And b-wo, I haven't been to Thessaloniki yet, but I've heard good things, and the fiancee spent a year there during undergrad and swears by it, so I have no objections to going there either. But realistically we'll probably end up in Athens if we go to Greece, and I'm fine with Athens.
Here in Queens NY, all the kids I pass have coats on - and most of them have the big, bulky, puffy, wicked expensive ones.
Eh, those Queens kids. Bunch of wimps.
Dressing up like Costanza, and it's not even very cold in NYC yet.
I don't think it's all that related to parents. Kids are more apt to try to ignore, get away from, and avoid, parents, than not. I think the macho display of "I don't care how cold it is, I'm cool!" is primarily directed at one's peers, intended to impress the girls with one's toughness, and, um, the boys with one's toughness.
On a point more divergent, some of us are physiologically more warm by a few degrees than the norm.