Just wondering

[dwalt]

Where I am from (Texas) when a man (or boy) enters a building the first thing they do is take their  hat off if they are wearing one.  In this area (Pacific NW) they leave them on.  What do they do in your neck of the woods?

[Karin M Fichtner]

I don't see any men taking hats off anymore at all. The only ones I know who take their "covers" off indoors are Marines. Most men wear ball caps.....what I refer to as "Pig farmer hats".....and they wear them all the time. I worked hard to break my ex of that habit. I actually saw him sitting on the side of the bed....stark naked.....wearing his hat!! My son wears hats only when he's out on the sailboat, to protect him from the sun. My son-in-laws wear them all the time. My daughter had to remove her husband's pig farmer hat before his daughter's wedding ceremony at the courthouse. It was bad enough he wore shorts!

[P.A.]

Around here It used to be that men always took off their hats indoors. However over the last 25 to 30 years much has changed. Mostly now older men, like me, take there hats or caps off but younger people do not.
Did you know that the idea that men should remove their hats while indoors originated in Elizabethean England? It was common for men to hide weapons, mostly knifes, in the large hats they wore then. Taking off you hat was a way to show you were unarmed.

[dwalt]

I did not know that!!  Makes perfect sense.

[Karin M Fichtner]

Pickleallen......that's like the custom of shaking hands.....a way to show you are not armed.

[P.A.]

Yes it is there are many coustoms that have origins that are not really evident today.

[Lifesighs]

I remember going to a friend's church and her telling me I had to have my hair covered with a hat or a scarf, she was talking down to me as if I didn't know the custom and it made me silently furious because I had a scarf in my purse I just didn't take it out until we got there. I must have been about 13. Now all these unreasonable rules that don't make sense still bother me a bit. Who cares if someone has a hat on or off, woman were supposed to have them on and men off?

I say if you want to have a hat on go for it if not take it off. Of course I'm not everyone so best to follow your own customs. Now people go to church in shorts and flip flops which is carrying things a little too far but I'm old, what do I know?

[blithe spirit]

Around here men don't take hats off in stores and such but seems they do in church and restaurants and other people's house.
Our students at school don't wear hats at all on campus.
I never heard the pig farmer reference..but lots of farmers around here and they seem to get the hat rules. I think younger men tend follow the group they are in...course wearing a hat a lot means you have hat hair which isn't very attractive. What's a guy to do..tsk... tsk.

[Wayne Goodwin]

I wear my Fedora when i go anywhere . I have a Black leather hat much like they wear in England . Ball Cap (Pig Farmer) some times . I have prescription(Lady Watcher) sun glasses that goes with the hats well . Sometime i shave my head . Hats just help ...

[Karin M Fichtner]

I am not in favor of shorts and flip flops in church. Actually....I have come to hate flip flops because they are all anyone wears from April to November around here. I think they are great for around the house....by the pool....on the beach. But I am not crazy about looking at everyone's (technically) bare feet in restaurants while eating my dinner....or having someone in the next chair at the bookstore crossing his legs and sticking his dusty foot in my line of sight. To me, it implies he or she was too lazy to put on a real shoe, so a piece of rubber was sufficient. Restaurants say, "No shirt...no shoes....no service", so what, exactly, is the difference between barefoot and mostly barefoot? The first year I was here, a group of high school students went to DC and toured the White house. They had their picture taken with the President. Over half of the kids were in flip flops, and the picture was put in our paper, saying that the kids displayed a lack of respect and decorum by meeting the President in flip flops. I am all for casual wear....but I think there's a time and place for it.

[T2Friends]

Sometimes the sound of flip flops annoy me, but otherwise I don't have an issue with them.  I admit they seem pretty casual for work and this is where the sound can become especially annoying walking up and down the corridors...kind of like snapping your gum, grrr.  I wear flip flops around the house a lot if I am not going far or going to be doing a lot of walking.  If I am going to be walking for any distance, shoe wear with more support is better for me.  But I have to admit, I hate when my feet get hot and sweaty, so I am considering some of the more high-end flip flop style sandals - the ones with more arch support.  

As for men and hats, I don't notice them wearing hats that often around here.  In the winter they might wear scally caps but those definately come off then they are indoors.  The baseball cap has become part of the everyday wear for younger men.  I do think the "hat hair" issue is part of the reason they don't follow the custum of taking off thier hat when in doors.  I remember one easter there being a huge brew ha ha between my young nephew and his dad about taking his hat off in the restaurant.  Made for a very tense Easter Brunch.  For me, and I am only speaking for myself, it was more important for us to be spending time together as a family and enjoying each others company rather than paying attentions to "customs" a bout removing the baseball cap.  

[frenchy]

well i wear a ball cap from time to time and i see no need to take it off in a bank or a supermarket .. i'd probably look kinda goofy walkin around with my hat in my hand .. but if i was in a church then i just wouldn't wear it .. i'd try to show some respect .. and i don't care for flip flops either .. never have .. if i wanna just go slummin around ( which is pretty much par for the course for me lately ) i'll wear a pair of loafer sneakers .. if i gotta dress up then i might wear a pair you have to tie .. i guess if i was to say there were any perks about gettin older its that most people don't shive a git how you dress anymore cause .. well we're old and who shives a git ?? i guess that would still include within reason .. when i was younger i'll admit i was never the guy you might see on the cover of G.Q. but i looked ok in a pair of designer jeans and a nice shirt .. now its pretty much a t shirt and shorts and them slip on sneakers and no socks .. if it gets really cold down here in the winter , ( yeah it does happen every now and then , it really does ) then i'll wear a pair of sweat pants and a flannel shirt and maybe a hoodie .. and maybe even a hat too .. it must be workin ok cause nobody's shot me yet .. 

[crestofwaves]

Walking in a store, I have no problem with my husband wearing his baseball cap.  But in a restaurant, no no no.  I go berserk when men wear their hats inside.