Maybe I’m clueless. For the life of me, I can’t figure it out. If somebody out there knows more about this trend, this fad, whatever you want to call it . . . I beg you, please clue me in. Who came up with this saggy-pants/show-your-boxer-shorts/crotch-to-your-knees thing? And then who was the next person? Who saw the first person doing it and decided it was a good idea?
Like I said, maybe I’m clueless. Maybe there’s some purpose behind it that I can’t fathom. I know this trend has been around a while, and I’m late to the party, but can’t we just let it die, already?
You know that uncomfortable feeling you get when you see someone with a runny nose who barely seems to care? They sniffle and smear their nose with a bare hand, unconcerned about grossing out the people around them. That’s like the feeling I get when I see someone wearing pants that are too big and hanging halfway down their backside with underwear showing. You know, you want to give the person with the runny nose a box of tissue, but you suspect they’d have no idea what to do with them. I wonder if it’s kinda like that if you offered the person with the wardrobe malfunction a set of suspenders.
One of my waking nightmares is imagining seeing a group of these people playing basketball. Then, with a mute sense of horror, I realize that probably somewhere, every day, it’s actually happening in real life.
Perhaps I should be comforted with the thought that, should a large predator like a tiger or polar bear escape from the zoo, I will probably be able to out-run anyone misusing their clothing in such a way. Seems a bit cruel, I know, but survival of the fittest is not pretty, either.
Photo courtesy flickr’s malingering
#1 by Wendy S. Russo on February 24, 2012 - 1:55 PM
As a cost cutting measure, a jail stopped buying pants in all appropriate sizes and adopted a S/M/L approach. Now, because of obvious reasons, men who were issued pants that were too big were not provided with belts to hold them up. They spent a good deal of their time and coordination holding the pants with one hand.
These men are released, return to the world, and continued to wear their pants baggy as a sign to others on the street that the had been on the inside.
Hip-hop picked up the trend as fashion. The rest you know.
#2 by Joseph M Kurtenbach on February 24, 2012 - 11:17 PM
Fascinating. Thanks, Wendy! I appreciate you reading and taking the time to fill in some blanks for me. Gives me a whole new perspective on the fad.
So it’s kind of like a form of solidarity with prison inmates. I get it.
#3 by Rilla Z on February 24, 2012 - 1:56 PM
Your basketball playing nightmare is happening, and it isn’t pretty, either. I think the government should get in on this. You know, make belts with waist sensors that inch up and tighten, then tell everyone, “Hey, look! Free belts. Share the belts!” Occupiers would love them, and maybe the others would pull up their pants in revolt.
#4 by Joseph M Kurtenbach on February 24, 2012 - 11:47 PM
I think you may be onto something with the technological solution. My mind is on fire with all kinds of hilarious possibilities.