Brain Bubbles

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Much of the time I find my brain going into directions of which I have no control. Why this occurs is a mystery to me but it seems to be happening more and more lately.

Whether it is a symptom of aging or of simply not having enough to do or something else entirely, I can't say. All I know is it happens and, for better or worse, I'm stuck with it. One example of a crazy thought came to me recently and instead of brushing it off, as I usually tend to do, I thought I'd share it with you this week. Lucky you.

Do you remember (if you are older than, say, 60) when men would pull their slacks slightly just above both knees as they started to sit down? This action was done quickly and more or less in a subconscious way, a sort of reflex as their body settled down into a chair or sofa.

I hope I'm explaining it right, it's a strange thing to describe. My point is, nobody to my knowledge engages in this little action anymore. At least I haven't seen it.

It must have been a habit common to generations of the past, since I never saw it being done by anyone in my age group or younger. I suppose it was a way of alleviating fabric stress on the pants as the man bent down to sit, either to keep the trouser seams from pulling, or to just maintain a smoother look. I can't for the life of me think of any other reason to pull up the trouser legs in that fashion.

That men today do not engage in this pulling up of the pant legs is undoubtedly due to the fact that men's pants today are much more casual than slacks were generations ago. With the popularity of blue jeans and chinos in the typical man's wardrobe, that pulling up business doesn't fit.

To begin with, it simply can't be done with tight fitting Levis. There isn't enough loose fabric to grasp onto at the lower thighs. Even with baggy leg pants, it would look silly if a man pulled up the legs before sitting. It's an old fashioned effect that isn't used anymore.

Now that I think of it, I don't remember ever seeing any man of any generation actually doing that trouser pull up. Did my father do it? I don't remember seeing him do it. I don't remember seeing my uncle or any other older men doing it either. So why does my crazy brain think that men once did that?

Well, I figured it out. I watch a lot of old movies; I'm talking really old movies. From the 1930's and the 1940's. And that's where you can see men doing the trouser leg pull up thing. And that's where I got the idea that men in real life used to do it. But in real life it never was a thing, men never actually did that at all.

The reality is, it was only a movie thing. That's all it ever was. One of those stagy movie actions that they inserted into scenes to keep actor's hands busy, like men putting their hands in their pockets for no good reason, and lighting cigarettes, and other such busy work. Movie nonsense. Like sitting at a dinner table and not really eating.

Or paying off a taxi driver with money you pull out of your pocket but never look at. Now that I figured out that the pants pull up is only a movie device, I guess I should stop doing it myself. Maybe then people will stop snickering at me when I sit down.

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