BS: 'mercun trousers...

Subject: BS: 'mercun trousers...
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 02 Aug 05 - 10:29 AM

I have mentioned this before in another thread but got no answers to this little mystery of the universe. Clintons thread about L/H jeans inspired me to create another thread about threads...

I have 2 pairs of trousers that I bought in America last year. They differ from UK ones in only one way - the back pockets. By trousers btw I mean casual trousers or 'slacks' rather than jeans or suit trousers. Most of my UK trousers, of which I have had many being a well trousered individual:-) have a single back pocket on the right hand side usualy with a button fastening or a flap and button fastening. The very rare pairs I have had with 2 back pockets have had matching fastenings on said pockets.

The US ones in both cases - and they are different makes bought from different shops - have 2 back pockets. The right hand one being 'open', without having any fastening at all and the left hand one having a button fastening.

Why is this? Any ideas? Anyone but me bothered? :D

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: 'mercun trousers...
From: gnu
Date: 02 Aug 05 - 10:36 AM

Oh yeah... it is RATHER bothersome.

Subject: RE: BS: 'mercun trousers...
From: MMario
Date: 02 Aug 05 - 10:36 AM

it seems to vary from designer to designer - if there is only one back pocket it may be open or closed - but normally is on the right. When there are two - they may both be open, one closed by some means or both closed - usually with a matching type closure but not necessarily. Individual expression is big.

Subject: RE: BS: 'mercun trousers...
From: curmudgeon
Date: 02 Aug 05 - 10:49 AM

Left rear pocket is for wallet/billfold, thus the button. Righ rear for handkerchief which no one nowadays would steal - Tom

Subject: RE: BS: 'mercun trousers...
From: Amos
Date: 02 Aug 05 - 11:38 AM

I have never carried a wallet in my left rear pocket; it used to go in the right rear but it threw my back out and made my bum sore, so I put it in front or in a jacket now.

Styles like this are the whim of a designer somewhere who may or may not be connected with real-world concerns; so there may be no reason "Why" except "Just....because!" :D

A

Subject: RE: BS: 'mercun trousers...
From: PoppaGator
Date: 02 Aug 05 - 11:59 AM

Being a 'Mercun, all my pants/trousers ~ long and short, formal and informal ~ have two back pockets.

I use the left one for my wallet and the right for a comb. Also, keys in the left front pocket and change in the right front. If any pocket is empty ~ especially either of the left-side pockets ~ I am immediately conscious of it, and usually a bit nervous.

Subject: RE: BS: 'mercun trousers...
From: MMario
Date: 02 Aug 05 - 12:05 PM

?? Is this a regional thing then? Because a lot of pants for sale around here have only 1 back pocket - and as I said, usually on the right.

Subject: RE: BS: 'mercun trousers...
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 02 Aug 05 - 02:04 PM

The only "'mercun" trousers I've ever seen with only one back pocket are those in the "youth market" and often had another obscene modification - elastic waistbands with no belt loops. Being of an age to wear "big boy" clothing before mass merchandising decided that only teen agers have any money, I may have missed something.

Amos complains about the wallet in the back pocket throwing his back out. He problably has the problem cited by the CEO of American Airlines in a speech at Boeing a few years back, when he explained that he'd finally figured out that that "bump" on the front end of 747s was so the pilots wouldn't bang their heads when they sat down on their wallets.

It's most common to have a pocket on each side in front, and two on the rump. Traditionally the left rear pocket has a button, since it seems to be common for people to carry their money (obsolete term - substitute credit/debit cards) there.

Another "neat trick" is the left back pocket without a button, but with the opening stitched narrower than the main width of the pocket so that the contents have to be carefully "centered" and lifted straight out to prevent hooking on the top stitching. This can be so effective that it may be easiest to drop your pants so you can get to the pocket with both hands in order to extract an overstuffed wallet. (Makes it easy to get "beat to the check" when it comes time to "fumble for the tab," so this style appears most often on "dressy" trousers suitable for business wear.)

Although I've used the term "wallet" in deference to prior use in the thread, if it folds up to fit in a rear pocket in US usage it would be called a "billfold." The wallet name is applied in my area only to those long things that require you to wear a "monkey suit" to have an inside jacket pocket to carry them in or to the monster things with zippers attached by massive chains to the belts of truck drivers and wannabe bikers.

Of course, according to my understanding of traditional lore, this is all academic here. Why would a musician have any need for a way to carry money?

John

Subject: RE: BS: 'mercun trousers...
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 02 Aug 05 - 04:23 PM

If yer wallet is so thick that it's thowing your back out, you probably have WAY too much junk in it...

Subject: RE: BS: 'mercun trousers...
From: DougR
Date: 02 Aug 05 - 04:28 PM

Or money! :>)

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: 'mercun trousers...
From: PoppaGator
Date: 02 Aug 05 - 06:23 PM

When my wallet gets big and thick and overstuffed, it ain't money that's causing the problem, that's for sure. What is it? Receipts I'll never need, business cards from people I'll never see again, faded pictures of my kids from when they were kids, notes to myself about subjects I've completely forgotten, several years' worth of annual membership cards in the St, Patrick's Day Marching Club and in the local public radio and TV stations, etc.

Periodically cleaning such crap out of my wallet (or, if you will, billford) always feels good ~ as though I were actually accomplishing something to simplify my life. Hmmph; wish it was that simple!

Subject: RE: BS: 'mercun trousers...
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 02 Aug 05 - 07:58 PM

Curmudgeon had it right: wallet on the left, handkerchief (and comb, back when I needed a comb) on the right. At least that's the way I used to do it until I had my pocket picked on the London Underground. Now I keep my wallet in my front pocket.

Now if someone could only tell me what all those pockets, hooks, straps, and compartments on my vest are for… (It looks sorta like this.)

Hey, you wouldn't believe how hard it was for me to find a picture of a vest that looks sorta like mine. I thought everyone sold them: LL Bean, Lands' End, Sears. I guess they musta gone out of style when I wasn't looking.

I used to like having lots of pockets, particularly when I was being a tourist and carried lots of stuff: passport, maps, guidebooks, brochures, tickets, pens, notebook, sunscreen, etc. I had to give it up because my memory got so bad, I could never find anything without looking in about 10 different pockets. Now I travel light.

Here's another puzzler. I know what Brits call a vest is what Americans call an undershirt—but how can anyone call this a cargo vest? Where do you put the cargo?

This is more like what Americans would call a cargo vest. What would you Brits call it?

Subject: RE: BS: 'mercun trousers...
From: GUEST,marks
Date: 02 Aug 05 - 09:36 PM

Never had a thick enough billfold to worry about throwing my back out!
But the left rear pocket is for car keys. You can also get a right front pocket with an "insert" for keeping change and whatnot, and once had pants with a zipper security pouch midway down the right leg. That would be handy for travel in Paris or Rome or anywhere pickpockets frequent.
Mark

Subject: RE: BS: 'mercun trousers...
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 02 Aug 05 - 10:13 PM

JohninKansas says that

Although I've used the term "wallet" in deference to prior use in the thread, if it folds up to fit in a rear pocket in US usage it would be called a "billfold."

Maybe that's the usage in Kansas, John, but in Minnesota, where I grew up, and in Indiana, where I've lived for the last 43 years, the folded thing in my back pocket has been a wallet. I recognize the word "billfold", but I'm not sure I ever use it.

And as to the word "trousers", I recognize that too, but in 74 years I don't think I've ever referred to the rags that kiver the nekkidness of me nether parts as "trousers". They are "pants", or occasionally "slacks". And frankly, I've never liked the word "slacks" for men; "slacks" are what women wear.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: 'mercun trousers...
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 02 Aug 05 - 11:42 PM

Dave-O

No argument. The wallet/billfold thing may be fairly local. And in my area "trousers" is a word used only by little old ladies who find "pants" a bit too suggestive of "panties" and a little immodest.

John

Subject: RE: BS: 'mercun trousers...
From: Roger in Baltimore
Date: 03 Aug 05 - 11:22 AM

Jim,

That "vest" you showed is a fisherman's vest. It's for that guy who wades into the river to fly fish for trout or whatever. He can keep all of his needs up above the water and easily accessible. It has since branched out for regular casual wear. I know many a photographer who wore a vest like this to keep film and lenses readily at hand.

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: BS: 'mercun trousers...
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 03 Aug 05 - 01:27 PM

Ahhhh - All is made clear! For wallets and money then. That's why we don't need the two in the UK. Never having any money...;-)

Incidentaly I used trousers because I think everyone agrees what trousers are - Not so pants, even though I usualy use the term myself. Full agreement about slacks being female apparel. Now then, what about kex..?

I must say I like the idea of the two pockets. I am a pocket person and have various items secreted all about my person. Shirt pockets for medicine and mobile phone. Right front pocket for wallet. Left front pocket for hankie and pocket knife. Right back pocket for comb in the days I needed one. Now, what can I put in that left one? Hmmm. That pen goes...

Whoops! Anyone know how to get red ink out of cream cotton?

:D

Subject: RE: BS: 'mercun trousers...
From: GUEST,Dáithí Ó Geanainn
Date: 05 Aug 05 - 05:52 AM

Hey Dave - have you tried the kind of trousers walkers/climbers often wear?
I wear Craghoppers and Peter Storm ones all the time for casual wear (don't have any denims at all).
They're ideal for you if you like pockets so much - zip ones, at least two hidden ones - in the legs, front, back, sides...plus they're UV resistant, windproof and quick drying.
Other plus? They on;y cost around £30!
Check 'em out at Millets
(No...I'm not on commission..)
D

Subject: RE: BS: 'mercun trousers...
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 05 Aug 05 - 07:33 AM

Aye - Got a few of them. Various makes - Rohan being the dearest but they have lasted the longest! Not keen on the leg pockets as things heavier than maps in them tend to bang on my knees as I walk! I do like the multiple other pockets though. There is a good place near us - Winfields in Haslingden - who have a good range from around £10 up to about £30 so if you want to save a bit of cash shop around:-) Although I must say that both Craghopper and Peter Storm are better quality than the cheaper ones. Regatta are cheaper and a good second choice. Rohan are only affordable if you get their factory 'end of range' ones.

Cheers

DtG