Thank you for posting the article yesterday. I have this to say about Easy Pants.
I wore a drawstring to the office too – when I taught meditation at a temple.
Am I the only one aghast at the notion, in this article and the other I cited, that men have put on pounds working from home and now, rather than do the healthy thing and lose the weight, are just gonna wear elastic waistbands?
No, I am not. Bill Burr is, as well. I transcribed this from his podcast yesterday:
“One of the worst things for this country, that has happened, in, in in I don’t know how many years, alright? Was when they started making jeans with the elastic waist. The waistband. Like, who is that helping? Back in the day, when you started to putting on a little weight, those f*@king jeans dug into ya and they left a f*@king red mark, borderline welt, okay? And you knew that you had one of two choices. You either started eating a f*@king salad or you had to start pushing those things (jeans) south. Now, I know a lot of the rappers and all that, get credit for that style, for wearing your pants down below your <deleted> but I’m here to tell you that there was a lot of fatties that did that first. Still can fit a 32 inch jean, you know? Just gotta push it down your f*@king body.”
Taking a personal day today but back tomorrow. With, I hope, a really cool new segment of the site for you. Dr. Claire – Marie Brisson and I are doing a compilation book of the best of the Ivy FB Group (WITH THEIR PERMISSION OF COURSE) and also members of this site and she will be featuring one a week. That’s not the new segment though. I think you are gonna like this.
All best – JB
The only problem is that the weight never comes off as fast as it goes on. Fortunately I’m old enough I have a variety of clothes for a variety of weights, so I at least have something non-elastic without a drawstring to wear.
That is so true. I am touring this summer, so January 1 I started hitting it hard. Used to me, I look at a sandwich, I gain weight, I walk past the same sandwich, I lose weight. Now, look-gain and walk-past-walk-back-still-walk-past and lose nada. – JB
Sansabelt pants were in demand in the 70’s. They had a wide waistband inside designed to hold up middle aged men’s pants. They overcame the tummy pants drop issue. In the south they were paired with ultra suede sport coats.
For some reason I cannot come close to fathoming Akismet held up your comment. Apologies. I had a Geometry teacher named Sal Guido (real name) who wore Sansabelt and I swear he made them ok. – JB
Some of the issue may be focusing on losing weight, and not trading fat for muscle. In some respects the “weight” doesn’t need to come off, but rather redistributed. The redistribution has gotten harder as I age, and definitely need to focus more on diet + exercise than just diet as a young Rake…
Hear, hear against easy pants. Recently in a meeting with a lawyer who wore not elastic waisted pants, but elastic pants. to the meeting. Comfort on the waist not the eyes has become a new idol in America.
But if I may, as a reader of this site is it now essential that I always prepare myself for profanity-laced posts such as this? Marking out part of the word does nothing to sanitize it from gaining access to one’s mind. May I ask readers to chime in if they prefer a G rated or at least a PG rated gentlemen’s blog to read? Not a prude here, only a reader who desires a clean site.
Knowing a little bit about your sensibilities, I think their origin is important to note. I want to be respectful of your privacy too, so I would appreciate if you would share FULLY where this perspective comes from and then I will be very happy to address it. Thank you – JB
Well, the only thing about me which makes me find such language objectionable is that I long for an America where they once were not done. I am a husband, a one-time foster parent, a Christian, and a conservative, politically, but I imagine so are many readers on this site, and the Facebook site.
I am perhaps on the older end of the scale of readers, at 60, so I remember an America where those words were not shared in public, much less in mixed company as we have here. If that is not what America is today, and since even the past two presidents seem to use them with pride, I can accept that America has changed, but still find it hard to accept in a forum dedicated to preserving a style of ages past.
But as for this post above, I just think such profanity does nothing to better any situation and lots to degrade a situation or, in this case, a point one is hoping to make. Early in my career I learned from the great Zig Ziglar that no one listens to a public speaker because of his/her deft use of profanity and that it is more likely to turn off a listener or reader than to attract one. No one reads a story and asks, ‘Hmm, why did that writer not curse a little in that piece?’ But they do ask why he / she found it helpful.
But if the readership is partial to reading those words, then that is their choice. I just wondered if any saw it differently. I am truly not trying to cause a problem, and was not trying to touch a nerve, only wondering if anyone agreed with me. I have no clue who wrote the post above.
We have had back and forth communication recently where you educated me about the site and the reasons you are working so hard to grow the readership. I totally get that, as you told me things of which I was unaware, basically that the site is a financial asset, not only a blog about style. I was naive to those aspects and admittedly so, and somewhat embarrassed not to have realized it all along. I always thought it was just Christian’s blog about Ivy, later your blog about Ivy. I appreciated being politely set straight on that.
If I did not type my comments in a polite manner, for that I truly apologize to the writer and to you. That is one of the caveats of social media, many of us sometimes write too boldly for our own, or anyone’s benefit.
Knowing a bit of your story, which you shared recently about high school and related, I am a big admirer of how you have overcome a horrible start. And again, apologize if my written words came wrapped in vinegar.
No need, friend, and thank you for clarifying. And I agree, I think it is smarter and more Ivy to avoid profanity. I was quoting another source, and having been misquoted and plagiarized myself, I am sensitive to letting another’s words stand as they were created. I think this is the ONLY case you will find of profanity, and it is again to quote another source. I just want to make sure we don’t over-react to the one time quote of profanity by asking whether or not we have to make daily preparations for an onslaught.
Which now I understand wasn’t the intention. And you know what I like? That we come from different spaces and respect each other and can work together without a flame out. That is to YOUR credit.
No profanity unless I am quoting someone else, and I will put an advisory at the top of the post if it ever happens again. Is that a good handshake? – JB
Looking forward to the new segment with Dr. Claire–Marie Brisson.
I’m one of those whose trousers all seemed to mysteriously shrink in the closet over the past couple of years. Replacing nearly all of one’s pants is not an inexpensive proposition. I’m glad that I saved just a few pairs of my “shrunken” pants, in case my waistline fluctuates — it’s nice to know from Nick’s comment that such a thing might be possible. Land’s End has a “comfort waist” that uses elastic without bunching at the back. I haven’t tried those pants and don’t think I ever will, but after the past couple of years, I can understand the desire to.
Re: JDV, you make a good point. How does profanity aid in communication or improve upon a point? I’ll say this for it: It does a great job of expressing an underlying feeling with one or two short syllables. It conveys emphasis in a way that other words simply cannot. But it’s crass and it doesn’t take much of it before it crosses the tipping point into obnoxiousness. When a quote or article is lightly peppered with profanity, I am not bothered in the slightest (not that it matters what I think), but when it’s overused (and I won’t attempt to quantify that) it becomes off-putting and diminishes whatever was being said. As a pretty regular reader here, I don’t have a strong opinion either way about it. I’ve noticed no profanity on this blog other than in quotations like the one above, but maybe I’ve missed it.
JDV makes a valid point, and I thought JB gave a good, even kind, response. I have to say that I am also happier with a site that eschews profanity, although I have been known to use a naughty word myself, and certainly to quote those of others. Not recommending the practice, but merely acknowledging my failures, like Beau Brummell’s valet.
I am no stranger to most forms of vulgarity (through no fault of my parents or teachers), but over the years have come to find it tiresome and unnecessary. As Nevada points out, it can actually undermine the point being made, and does little to enhance one’s respect for the speaker.
I had never before heard of Bill Burr, but his shtick seems pretty familiar for comedians these days. Many of them seem to use profanity as a substitute for humor, and their audience, perhaps unfamiliar with the alternatives, seems to accept it as such. I note that PG Wodehouse was extremely funny and, as far as I recall, never resorted to that sort of profanity. Nevertheless, P.J. O’Rourke could hold his own in the potty-mouth Olympics, and even Tom Wolfe could get a bit ripe at times, and both of them were/are masters of humorous writing.
Like wearing a coat and tie, tucking in one’s shirt and polishing one’s shoes, holding a civil tongue is perhaps a dying art, but I think it is one worth keeping alive. I will try, at least.
It was common practice at one time to simply type in “expletive deleted”, which renders a little bit of grace to both the reader and the quoted speaker.
JVD
Ditto
Will
Grace. What a concept.
Kind Regards,
Heinz-Ulrich
JB: a handshake indeed.