Last week my son went on the school band trip. They went to a beach town, so you know the trip was full of scholarly and serious musical activities. One of the activities on the band trip was a cruise. A very scholarly cruise, no doubt.
Before the trip, Son got an e-mail with instructions about the cruise. He said, “Mom, it says here that appropriate dress for the cruise is ‘slacks and a polo shirt.’ What is that?”
I said, “Slacks are pants that are nicer than cargo pants or jeans. They don’t have to be as nice as the pants that go with your suit, but if you don’t have anything besides cargo pants you’ll have to take your suit pants. A polo shirt is a shirt with a collar and three buttons going down. If you don’t have one, find a shirt with a collar and without words on it.”
Son: “Why are they called ‘slacks’?”
I did not have an answer for that, but I said, “Maybe if you washed and ironed a pair of cargo pants that is not all raggedy, they would be sufficient. Barely.” This is an unfair request for me to make, because I never iron anything. It is my 11th commandment.
I was about to say he should call Dad and ask to borrow a polo shirt, but Son’s next utterance took us in a different direction. “Can I use the car?”
Me: “Where will you be going?”
Son: “Around. Here and there.”
Me: “Be back by 5:30 so I can take Youngest Daughter to Hebrew School on time.”
Reader, he went shopping for clothes. Progress is being made. Perhaps soon we will be ready to dine with the queen. Or even take a cruise with the queen!
4 comments:
The only time Andrew shops for clothes is when he goes to Hot Topic for a new Brony shirt.
Wow! That is a surprise ending! I didn't think men/boys every really did that!
They are called slacks because, way back when, they were what you wore when you were slacking off - they were the pair of pants in your wardrobe that you could sit around and relax in, as opposed to your work wardrobe.
This was, obviously, in the days before wearing sweatpants for anything but jogging became sartorially acceptable.
I still love your "no shirts with words" rule. It just makes sense, especially given some of the stuff they print on clothing now. And I went back and read the queen post; loved the hypothetical back-and-forth. Such a clever family.
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