prune picker

This is the blog of a prune picker. (Native born Californian) Retired oilfield. I am an old man. I blog a lot about my body and getting old. As I approach death life gets more interesting. More interesting is not good. I still drive. I attend sports, music, and civic events. I am writing my memoirs. I attend swim class three times a week. Some of my blogs might be interesting. A lot of my blogs are silly and trivial. None are very long.

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Dirty cords--a fad of the 1930s.

When I was in Junior High School. In the 1930s or so, it was a fad to wear dirty cords. These started out as nice yellow or light brown corduroy slacks. The fad required that you never washed your cord slacks. The idea was to get them dirty. Some even artificially helped them get dirty. And you would wear them for several years or until they fell apart. Can you believe that I used to envy guys with real dirty cords? They looked so stylish.

Some people insisted that they could stand the slacks in the corner of their room and the slacks would stand there, and not fall over. Do you believe that?

You would wear a clean crisp shirt. Some said the shirt should be white.

Corduroy slacks were expensive. They were expensive in my memory. I can remember that I sold my bike and used some of the money to buy a pair of corduroy slacks. So that I could be in style with dirty cords. I remember wearing them for a long time. I was right in style!

A current fad is to wear your pants with the belt across the buttocks. I prefer dirty cords.

3 comments:

  1. Hello Mr. Chuck!

    It is so funny to look back on fads in fashion and behavior. I remember several fads that I followed as a teenager that I look back on and laugh at myself. I remember having a pair of combat boots when I was about 18. They were all the rage and mine were even better because I bought a pair of OLD, used boots at an Army surplus store. I thought I was hot stuff! Of course, these had to be worn with either a flannel shirt and pair of torn up jeans, or strangely enough, a short baby doll dress. I am sure that I was quite a sight. My mom laughed about the baby doll dresses and said that she remembered them from the 60's. I guess what goes around, comes around.
    It might make a fun post to list some of the more prominent or, in the case of the pants belted across the behind, funnier fads that you have witnessed in your time. Have there been any that when they first started you thought, "that will never last" only to have them still hanging around today? When the crooked baseball cap and low slung saggy pants thing started, I can remember thinking that, but here they are still hanging on. Well, in the case of the pants, quite literally, just barely hanging on! Ha Ha!!! Have a great day Mr. Chuck. Keep the life story coming. We are really enjoying it.

    Love and Hugs,
    A.B.

    P.S. I bet you were cute in your dirty cords. They would have fit right in with my combat boots!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for your comment, AB. I bet you were a picture in your boots. I appreciate your kindness! Love, Chuck

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  2. Today on MeTV, both TV dads Mr. Douglas (My Three Sons) and Mr. Cleaver (Leave It To Beaver), had to contend with crazy hair fads being sported by their sons Chip and Wally. They each spoke of the fad they followed in their youths of wearing dirty corduroys. Coincidence they were both on tv the same morning, one after the other!

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