Hi everyone! This is Craig’s Dad, and I would like to talk briefly about socks. Not White Sox or Red Sox, and definitely not “Old Sock Stew”, just plain old regular socks. I’m sure some of you are wondering what I could possibly have to say about socks that would be in the least bit interesting. Well I’m either going to surprise you or embarrass the hell out of myself and my son Craig.
I think it is interesting the way socks and the wearing of socks has evolved over the past fifty or so years. I’m not sure what it says about us as a culture and I’m sure it would be even more interesting if I could relate it to something significant like global warming or bias in the media. But after all, their just socks, so what do you expect from me?
When I was a kid you could always tell the “have” kids from the “have not” kids by their socks. If their socks stayed up around their calves they were definitely “have” kids. If, on the other hand, their socks slid down around their ankles they were poor, “have not” kids. You see, the elastic in their socks was shot and they couldn’t get them to stay up and they couldn’t afford new socks. Craig’s Mom says that she used to put rubber bands around her socks so they would stay up, but that just seems uncomfortable.
A few years ago my daughter started harassing me about the fact that I wore my socks pulled up. She was always squatting down and pushing them down around my ankles telling me how uncool I looked. When I would complain all I’d get was the infamous “Oh, Dad!”
Now, of course, the really “with it” people wear socks so short you can’t even tell they’re wearing any at all. We had socks like that in my younger days too. Of course they were socks so old they slid all the way down into your shoe and usually ended up wrapped tightly around your toes and the ball of your foot. Not really very comfortable or stylish.
Well what do you think? How does the change in the way we wear our socks reflect the change in our culture?