damn! behind the times. I'm in the 20%. (Labs picks out my underwear, or lack thereof.) $100 says Ogged is in the 17%.
Are you citing this approvingly, Becks?
I find it impossible to believe that 20% of adult men do not even *influence* the people who purchase their underwear.
I guess it depends how they're defining "influence."
And what woman "offer[s] to help" her husband buy underwear? The author is insane.
I assume "influence" means "has input on."
I use that phrase deliberately in order to give w-lfs-n hives.
B, of course the influence the person who purchases their underwear, just not as to that particular purchase.
I don't find it so hard to believe that 20% of men just let their wives buy their underwear without worrying about what they buy.
Okay, I've now used up the last of my daily quotient of outrage. Off to bed!
Oops, a little outrage left--"let"? 20% of wives are completely whipped.
But now, men see their underwear as a “situational thing,”
Men are learning to compromise between "always" and "never". That's pretty laudable.
As we all know, there's nothing women like more than buying clothes. Why, those men are doing their little ladies a great favor by allowing them to spend their time buying underwear instead of working or studying math.
Gnight, Teo. You should go to bed too, you know.
From a link in the aricle: These will not fly.
I'm not really sure of the button-fly issue mentioned in the article. With some boxers—especially soft, cotton-y ones— your wingding can swing right out of the safe confines of boxerville, and you're walking down the street feeling suddenly awkward. Huzzah, button. Bigger huzzah, boxer briefs.
Agreed on the buttons. Buttons are good.
Boxer brief, however, are an abomination.
$100 says Ogged is in the 17%.
No Michael, I'm in the 1% who have opinions even about what other guys' underwear should be.
We talked a bit about this, long ago. Complete with poll.
21: Certainly one would want them to be plural, for one.
Yeah, Ogged, I know; you would be totally at home on The Island. Your old links are broken, but if I remember correctly, you are in favor of boxerbriefs.
Linkrot swallows the internet. The comments to that post are pretty funny.
what woman "offer[s] to help" her husband buy underwear?
My mother, that's who. And she's also willing to make after-purchase adjustments to every pair, according to my father's preference for sewn-shut-fly underthings.
I don't know how consumer pollster would have registered that particular combination; I'm guessing my dad should be part of the %60, even though he never purchased underwear in my lifespan.
(Googleproofed because I really shouldn't be talking about this sort of thing in public.)
could one of you ladies tell me how you go about influincing what mom's decisions?
This line from apostropher has me amused:
and the end of my package was a foot massage.
That has to be hard to explain to a potential partner.
according to my father's preference for sewn-shut-fly underthings
Uh, what's the advantage of this? I'm really not seeing it.
I was regretting not making a joke about that line.
29.---Seriously, I have no idea. That's what my mother claimed my father prefered, when I asked her what she was doing with that sewing machine. Really, I do not know what the story is there, and I have no desire to inquire any further.
Okay, I should go to bed too. G'night, all.
I used to comment on a well-known left wing mailing list that my credentials to comment on feminist issues were somewhat undermined by the fact that while typing them I was not wearing a single item of clothing that I had washed, ironed or bought myself.
Recent studies have shown that girls who show too much curiosity about their fathers' underwear have strong tendencies toward some very unfortunate sort of behavior.
I buy all of my own clothes but I have to stop my sister from trying to help.
Bigger huzzah, boxer briefs.
And, despite what teo says, boxer briefs will work well even for those of you with smaller huzzahs.
My wife buys me clothes all the time.* Not because I am incapable of buying them myself, but if she's buying for herself and sees something she thinks I'd like [or she thinks she'd like to see on me] she buys it.
On the other hand, I am much more likely to be ironing her clothes than vice versa.
And huzzah for boxer briefs.
* Not underwear.
Ironing? People still do that?
That's why they invented wrinkle-free fabrics.
Apart from a wedding I attended, I don't think I've worn a piece of ironed clothing in at least 10 years. And I wear a shirt and tie to work.
And another huzzah for boxer briefs!
I didn't know men even had neurons dedicated to opinions about their own underwear. I can tell if the drawer is full or empty, or if elastic isn't. Every once in a while I say "I need more underwear" out loud and the packages appear in the drawer soon after.
Maybe men would start paying more attention to fashion if they actually bought their own clothes. My older brother, who has been buying his own clothes since age 12 or so, has quite a good deal of style. Then again, maybe that's just because he's one of the people ogged hates.
I had a boyfriend who had three sisters, and between them and his mother I think he had maybe 5 items of clothing he'd actually bought himself. I don't approve of this.
Maybe men would start paying more attention to fashion if they actually bought their own clothes.
Not in my experience.
I had thought that the boxer brief had put the question to bed, but Eric over here makes the case for the brief.
Hmm. My wife doesn't buy my underwear, for the same reason she doesn't do my laundry. But I don’t feel particularly involved in or attached to the underwear decision either. Basically, I wait until the situation becomes unacceptable. Then I wait another six months. Then I buy the next package of underwear I see. If I throw out the old underwear, Molly does a little dance of joy.
Actually, it’s not much different than the laundry situation.
re: 42
Being bought cool things is nice both because someone else is thinking of you and because it cuts out a bit of shopping.
I like nice clothes and, according to my wife, have pretty good taste, but I don't really like shopping much. That said, the bulk of what I wear is chosen and bought by me, but if my wife finds a cool t-shirt or a nice sweater or shirt, all the better.
Buck gets new underwear for Christmas -- he find buying it an irksome task, and and on the overall 'irksome tasks' meter, I'm usually running well behind. OTOH, that means he gets whatever weirdo style of underwear I come across first. He doesn't appear to mind.
I consider myself evidence for 43. I started buying clothes for myself basically when I went to college, and while I've upgraded from college souvenir t-shirts and jeans to button-down dress shirts and slacks, my sense of "fashion" is pretty much "the same thing that I've been getting away without being laughed at for the last five years".
Underwear is really the only clothes I buy new for myself, because you can buy it in industrial quantities at Target instead of going to an actual clothing store. Socks seem to appear as presents for every imaginable holiday. And as for shirts and pants, the few high-quality items I own were all gifts - the rest are from the thrift store.
Somehow, this commercial seems relevent to this discussion. Don't press me for details as to exactly how, though, because I'm not really sure.
50 -- is the selling point that it will make you effeminate? Strange. Where is this playing? For some reason I can't picture it on US network television.
When Mr. B. starts wearing ratty clothes, I say "why the fuck are you wearing those ratty things? Go buy yourself some new ___, damnit."
Heh. Buck usually looks roughly like someone you'd expect to find looking for shells on a Florida beach: bizarre floppy hats, torn, loud, t-shirts and shorts, and a shaggy beard. I figure it's not my problem.
52- does he ust obediently go do so? Or does he say "if they bother you so fucking much why don't you go buy me some news ones, damnit."
54: I'm pretty sure you know the answer to that question.
53: I mostly figure it's not my problem either. Except inasmuch as I'm incredibly shallow and find clothes that fit and don't have holes in them sexier than clothes with rips and stains.
Which sounded insufferably bitchy, and I apologize, LB. There is definitely a charming hotness to the devil-may-care look, as well.
"the same thing that I've been getting away without being laughed at for the last five years".
"without" s/b "with while"
55: well, I don't know Mr. B, but I know what I'd say in response, and what I expect most people who are not complete pushovers would say. I'd probably start wearing ratty clothes more often just to be spiteful.
This all assuming of course that you'd actually say something like 52 to him, and that you're not just bitching-up the tone here to make a better comment.
Shorter Brock: Mr. B. = whipped.
And Buck works well with the charming ragamuffin/beachcomber look, and I'm pretty scruffy myself. I'm just snickering at the amount of his clothes I'd have to object to if I went down that road.
My wife is pretty much with BPhD on that one.
"Why the hell are you wearing that? It's faded and it makes you look fat."
However, she does like buying me stuff or 'encouraging' me towards certain purchases -- which tend to be slightly more colourful than things I'd buy myself.
The Biophysicist and I divide labour according to our strengths and preferences: I like to shop, he doesn't like to shop. He doesn't hate to vacuum, I hate to vacuum. Hence, I buy all the underwear in the house and he uses all the vacuum cleaners and we are all happy. [I'm pretty sure, however, that he thinks the Jockey Fairy just leaves those packages in his drawer every so often. I, however, have seen him vacuum, so I no longer believe in the Hoover Angel. A crushing blow to my childlike illusions.]
As a basically scruffy and non-fashiony person without terribly strong opinions on the matter, I'd say this is one of the easiest ways most guys could dress better -- buying slightly brighter/more interesting colors.
The Jockey Fairy
Now appearing at the Banana Lofts.
(where he's opening for the Low-Hanging Fruit.)
"Maybe men would start paying more attention to fashion if they actually bought their own clothes."
Yeah, my parents stopped buy my sister and i clothes when we were in jr high. instead we got a monthly clothing budget. once i spent an entire month's money on oakley sunglasses. then my jeans tore, and i had to wear maroon jeans instead until i had some $.
But by high school i was paying more attention to fashion than any of the other boys.
Oddly enough, my father buys all my mother's clothing.
67: Is that why she is always dressed as a catholic schoolgirl?
Except inasmuch as I'm incredibly shallow and find clothes that fit and don't have holes in them sexier than clothes with rips and stains.
I am the living refutation of this commonly held but erroneous theory of women. I am almost always impeccably dressed in well-chosen and stylish clothes (I have a particularly natty Fred Perry number which is perfect for the opera), but nevertheless somehow look like shit in all of them. At one point the designer Paul Smith actually wrote me a personal letter asking me to stop wearing his brand of clothes.
This sounds like a very lucrative possible extortion scheme. Have you thought of ostentatiously shopping in expensive boutiques, and announcing that you have lots of friends, and tell them all where you buy your clothes? And then just wait to be paid to go away.
69: Would you look better in grubby stained clothing?
Or perhaps concealed entirely under a tarp?
Or maybe you just should never leave the house! Stay home and write things while naked, and file them via email!