h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I was down the pub last night with my son and daughter (28 and 31) and a woman walked in wearing a bright pink velour dressing gown and pyjamas at about 7.30 p.m. She sat down with her partner (wearing his work clothes) and they ordered drinks and meals. She wasn't wearing any footwear either - was probably piggy-backed from the car since this is a country(ish) pub and she certainly didn't pop in from next door.

My daughter and I exchanged 'these aren't OUR people' eyebrow movements. However, my son, as normal, with his utterly unprejudiced approach, said 'what's the problem?'

I couldn't put it into words.

So just what IS the problem?

IS there a problem? As Robbers said, she's more covered up than you are'. True. My top two buttons were undone (but I WAS wearing shoes).

PP.

Isn't it just etiquette? Or in other words, arbitrary rules about what is, and isn't, the done thing. We mightn't obsess over it the way Victorian gentlemen might have, but there are still certain rules about what to wear, or how to speak, in given situations.

Most of the time we aren't conscious of it, but that's probably because we observe these things habitually or instinctively without thinking about it.

would you go to bed with the same clothes you have been wearing outside of it? they can be dirty, or sweated... pyjamas are comfy garments you put on a clean body to help you rest and sleep sound...

for a similar reason of appropriate things to wear in certain places, nurses and doctors shouldn´t go outside the hospital to have breakfast in the next door bar dressed with their work garments. A question of hygiene.

I think its the idea that pyjamas are and should remain the clothes in which we sleep rather than the things we don to go to the pub.... or out of the house... or socially

i suppose if people start accepting pyjamas as ok for shopping in at tesco then the pub is the next call... and why get dressed for the day at all... pyjamas at all times...

but with slippers... I dont want to be carried everywhere

I wouldn't mind being carried everywhere.

Pyjamas are banned from being worn in the Tescos in Cardiff, but possibly not at other stores. Whether Cardiff has an unusually high proportion of somnambulist shoppers is unknown.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8484116.stm
Clothes seem to be increasingly designed to provide the comfort of pyjamas, such as 'lounge clothes' or the dreaded 'onesie'.

I assume that this isn't a beachside country pub? I've been to lots of beachside cafes where people have walked in in swimming attire and no shoes (but you can't get rid of the faint whiff of sand).

<BB<

I think it just shows a certain disregard for others. It's a bit like walking around in clothes with big food stains on it.

If we want the Walmart dress code to be adopted in the UK that's fine. the problem is that no one will ridicule these people, worse still the pub manager did not eject them (strange pub). There is only one reason to dress in this fashion that is charity fund raising, but that excludes a meal.

I second the comment about cleanliness. Again if you think about it deeply it's just an arbitary thing (but aren't most rules and norms in society?), but personally I don't want the mank that outdoors clothes pick up on my bedding. I can't put my finger on why I feel this way precicely ... it's just an innate sense that bedding should be clean.. or at least only polluted exclusively with my own/wife's personal body excretions

"IS there a problem?"

Only in your mind.



"would you go to bed with the same clothes you have been wearing outside of it?"

Yep. Do it all the time. Don't even own pajamas.



"they can be dirty, or sweated..."

Nah, they're fine.



"I think it just shows a certain disregard for others."

I think you get offended too easily. And I, for one, find such oversensitivity to be [overstressed]--offensive.

Regarding why they were not ejected. I can understand that bar staff might feel uncomfortable and uncertain throwing someone out for what might sound prudish or petty when they vocalise the reasons they are asking her to leave. It's easy to eject a customer for breaking furniture or being abusive, but the kind of un-assertive 'first job' staff many pubs employ nowadays may find it hard to deal with 'innapropriate attire' as a reason for ejection.
The staff in the more traditional kind of pubs I frequent would probably not have the same difficulties

Afraid I disagree Mr X. Though it sounds like you're talking about doing the opposite; wearing your work clothes in bed, which is a personal choice which doesn't offend the eyes of others. But I think this is either something you 'get' or you don't. The protagonist in the OP obviously doesn't 'get it' or what the fuss is about. I would stare and find it very hard not to shake my head in dismay if I saw someone in PJ's in a pub. It's just WRONG, OK?

No, not okay, it ISN'T wrong. What other people choose to wear over their birthday suits is their own bloody business and people shouldn't be ostracized from society over which bunch of animal fibers cut into the general shape of a human body they want to drape over their walking skeleton. Be they pajamas or be they black trenchcoats!

On a related note, I always find it somewhat amusing when I see signs that say "No shirt, No shoes, No service." I mean, after all, they didn't forbid me not wearing PANTS, so would THAT suddenly be acceptable as long as I had a shirt and a pair of shoes?

It's been decades since I last wore pajamas. And no, I don't wear work clothes to bed. With that in mind, I would not wear pajamas outside the house either, since I don't have them at all. But if I put on a robe to go out on my front porch and get the morning newspaper, are people going to disapprove? They should get lives and stop sweating the small stuff!

If the pajamas in question were clean and in good condition, and they covered up the body parts that must be covered up, and there were no prominently posted signs in the pub about inappropriate clothing, then a social problem does not exist.

But I suspect that there might be a gender divide on this issue.

'gender divide' - is that the name of that unfastenable gap at the front of men's pyjama trousers?
I'm assuming that the pyjama-wearing culprit wasn't wearing a pair of those.

As I work in a University, I gave up noticing what people are and aren't wearing long ago - many of our students have completely different ideas of what is acceptable to wear in lecture theatres, libraries and the Uni's cafes and restaurants than I had. C'est la vie, times and fashions change.

I've just remembered - I did once wear a dressing gown in a restaurant. It was when I was in hospital and managed to finally get out of the ward for a bit - I don't think anyone noticed as I wasn't the only one so attired at the time. How do you know that the lady in question hadn't recently come out of hospital and, having felt trapped indoors for a long time, for the first time in ages was able to go out and spend a few hours distracted from her aches and pains with loved ones? Rather than wearing uncomfortable clothes that may rub painfully against rashes/wounds etc, she may have chosen to wear a more comfortable, lightweight option instead.

On a related topic, yesterday my wife took a pair of slippers with her when she went to visit a friend's house for a couple of hours. Anyone else do that?

<BB<

Hmmm.... I think I kinda find pyjamas sort of unacceptable in any situation... but I've never liked them... actually probably more suitable for wearing out, than they are for in bed, IMO Mind, I kinda feel the same about slippers

I think the elephant in the room here is that one generally doesn't wear underwear under one's nightwear.

Nowadays that's not really relevant because there are people who don't wear underwear under their daywear either, and yet others may well wear underwear under their nightwear.

It does seem wrong to wear pyjamas in a pub, but there isn't a real explanation as to why.

Men used to wear hats a lot and ALWAYS take them off when they went indoors. Nowadays people don't wear hats quite so much and, except in black and white films of the 40s and 50s, people seem to have forgotten all together that that removing them on going through a door was once the Thing To Do. Maybe the Great Pyjama Divide will one day also be forgotten.

As for taking slippers when visiting a friend: why not? Good idea!

>>people shouldn't be ostracized from society over which bunch of animal fibers cut into the general shape of a human body they want to drape over their walking skeleton. Be they pajamas or be they black trenchcoats!


What about something like wearing a Nazi uniform in a Jewish area?

[>>people shouldn't be ostracized from society over which bunch of animal fibers cut into the general shape of a human body they want to drape over their walking skeleton. Be they pajamas or be they black trenchcoats!

What about something like wearing a Nazi uniform in a Jewish area?]



I had to think about this one. As generalizations go, this is pretty broad. Not surprisingly, someone found a major exception. It's the nature of broad generalizations that they attract attention and analysis to see where exceptions need to be made. Wearing a Nazi uniform in a Jewish area is a major exception. Can the generalization be pared back so that fewer exceptions would need to be made?

Maybe the key word is "shouldn't." Someone needs to decide what should or shouldn't be done. Someone else can [and probably will] have a different opinion. Social pressure can be brought to bear on those who seem too far afield of community standards. So, in a hypothetical sense where there is no one to feel offended, one is free to imagine a world when anyone can wear [or not wear ] whatever one pleases. In real situations, the hypothetical will likely find itself being scaled back, perhaps radically.

Re the original post.

The woman in question appeared to be clean as a whistle - possibly fresh out of the bath. I didn't investigate her underwear habits (since I had my children (28 and 31) with me)(And in any case, she may have been cross about it even if I had told her it was for research purposes).

Her partner though was wearing his work clothes. I didn't take much notice - I was slightly distracted - but I did notice that he was wearing a polo shirt with an embroidered logo reading something like 'Dirty Outdoor Services Ltd' (I don't know exactly what it was.)

But surely, we aren't suggesting that a dressing gown is unsuitable for outdoor wear are we? Not here?

http://a2.l3-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/67/f8c768e135aa47c1bffa7b84823e450b/l.jpg

PP.