May
02
When did women start dressing like Ma Joad on American airlines?
The woman in the black dress standing by the airport gate waiting for her plane to board wasn’t beautiful. The best you could say was that she was merely attractive. Nor was the dress she wore that revealing. It ended somewhere below the knee and there was no cleavage at all.
All of these things would have been good excuses to surreptitiously gawk, a specialty of mine, but I can’t use them. Because there I was, staring. Finally, feeling like a stalker, I looked away.
It didn’t take long to dawn on me why she attracted such attention. She was wearing one of those antique things, one of those old-fashioned get-ups women used to wear in the old days, back when air travel had sort of an air about it. You know – what do you call it? – a dress.
So I did an experiment. Four airports, two continents. A total of maybe 200 women or so surveyed.
You know how many dresses I counted?
One.
Every other kind of rag-tag outfit, from ratty jean skirts to sweat pants. Some women looked like they had just come in from the field, picking peas. Others looked like they had just awakened, rolled out of bed and headed to the airport. Still others looked like they had just finished playing basketball.
I’ve never been one for formality, and my own airport garb could best be described as minimalist.
Still, what the hell has happened? When did women start dressing like men at airports? Hell, they dress worse than men, if that’s possible.
Maybe they’re dressing to match the pathetic quality of American airlines. That’s it, a silent, sloppy protest.
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13 comments
Comment from: David [Visitor] 
I don't really understand your column. So, you saw a woman in a dress at American Airlines, and since she wasn't showing her cleavage all the passengers decided to dress down?
05/03/08 @ 11:42
Yeah, that's it.
Do you have Alzeihmers?
Learning disability?
Do you ride the short, yellow bus?
Good god, Einstein, how could I have made it any plainer?
Do you have Alzeihmers?
Learning disability?
Do you ride the short, yellow bus?
Good god, Einstein, how could I have made it any plainer?
05/03/08 @ 12:30
Comment from: David [Visitor]
Alzheimer's? Because I don't understand why you feel wronged somehow by not being able to gawk at women in airports?
If one of us has a learning disability it would have to be you. Most women choose to dress comfortably because it is just that, comfortable, and possibly in your case, to prevent from being ogled.
Maybe you should learn that the world does not revolve around you or your over-inflated ego, and that women do not enjoy being stared at.
If one of us has a learning disability it would have to be you. Most women choose to dress comfortably because it is just that, comfortable, and possibly in your case, to prevent from being ogled.
Maybe you should learn that the world does not revolve around you or your over-inflated ego, and that women do not enjoy being stared at.
05/03/08 @ 12:54
Could you have possibly missed the point more?
How the hell do you get "over-inflated ego" from underdressing in airports?
Is English your second language?
Only been in country "short distance?"
Good lord, man.
Or should I say, good lord, woman. Are you a man disguised as a woman? Is that why you feel this inappropriate and misdirected need to speak for them on a subject that has no bearing whatsoever on the original blog?
Learn to read, then get back to me. In the meantime, get off the sauce.
How the hell do you get "over-inflated ego" from underdressing in airports?
Is English your second language?
Only been in country "short distance?"
Good lord, man.
Or should I say, good lord, woman. Are you a man disguised as a woman? Is that why you feel this inappropriate and misdirected need to speak for them on a subject that has no bearing whatsoever on the original blog?
Learn to read, then get back to me. In the meantime, get off the sauce.
05/03/08 @ 14:08
Comment from: David [Visitor]
English is my first language, but I wonder if it is yours? You are the one who believes that your point was clear in your blog, when clearly it is not.
You were lamenting about how women are dressing down while at the airport, and this disturbs you because you cannot stare at their breasts, and then you tried to weakly link it to American Airlines.
Since apparently you do not speak English well, I will type slowly and with small words.
Women are more concerned with their own comfort than providing you with an object to stare at.
By thinking that you have been somehow slighted by not having women running around the terminal dressed in a way that attracts your attention, shows your egocentricness.
Women do not show up to airports for the purpose to by eye-candy to you.
American Airlines, or any airline for that matter, has very little control over what their passengers wear.
You say you visited four airports on two continents and only saw about 200 women? Where were you flying? The average intercontinental airliner holds between 200-400 passengers. Are you trying to tell us that you flew between 4 airports (minimum of 2 flights required), and did not see more than 200 women? Did these airports only have one flight per day?
Maybe YOU should get back on the short bus and return to the special-ed center to learn simple arithmetic.
You were lamenting about how women are dressing down while at the airport, and this disturbs you because you cannot stare at their breasts, and then you tried to weakly link it to American Airlines.
Since apparently you do not speak English well, I will type slowly and with small words.
Women are more concerned with their own comfort than providing you with an object to stare at.
By thinking that you have been somehow slighted by not having women running around the terminal dressed in a way that attracts your attention, shows your egocentricness.
Women do not show up to airports for the purpose to by eye-candy to you.
American Airlines, or any airline for that matter, has very little control over what their passengers wear.
You say you visited four airports on two continents and only saw about 200 women? Where were you flying? The average intercontinental airliner holds between 200-400 passengers. Are you trying to tell us that you flew between 4 airports (minimum of 2 flights required), and did not see more than 200 women? Did these airports only have one flight per day?
Maybe YOU should get back on the short bus and return to the special-ed center to learn simple arithmetic.
05/03/08 @ 15:23
Comment from: Wendy (UK) [Visitor]
Absolutely hilarious!
Wud coment further but laffing too much to tipe proply.
Seriously (at least slightly more so) - asked husband to read blog (English being his third language) and he said "So true - obviously a man of discernment".
Clearly he doesn't know you too well - but at least he understood the point you were making.
Must go back for another chortle at
"You were lamenting....etc, etc... American Airlines" inbetween replaying Stewart Cink's birdie at 17th to my heart's content.
Wud coment further but laffing too much to tipe proply.
Seriously (at least slightly more so) - asked husband to read blog (English being his third language) and he said "So true - obviously a man of discernment".
Clearly he doesn't know you too well - but at least he understood the point you were making.
Must go back for another chortle at
"You were lamenting....etc, etc... American Airlines" inbetween replaying Stewart Cink's birdie at 17th to my heart's content.
05/04/08 @ 10:11
One of the rules of Journalism 101 is that if a story -- or in this case a blog -- is not clear to ONE person, then it is not clear.
However, I believe you provide the exception to this rule.
I think I could write: "See Spot run" and you would not understand it, and demand an explanation.
"Why are you demeaning dogs?" you would ask, feeling self-righteous.
It's my belief that you are cognitively and emotionally challenged.
Wendy is laughing at you -- not with you -- and so am I.
I'm afraid you do not meet the minimum standard to comment further.
However, I believe you provide the exception to this rule.
I think I could write: "See Spot run" and you would not understand it, and demand an explanation.
"Why are you demeaning dogs?" you would ask, feeling self-righteous.
It's my belief that you are cognitively and emotionally challenged.
Wendy is laughing at you -- not with you -- and so am I.
I'm afraid you do not meet the minimum standard to comment further.
05/04/08 @ 19:10
Comment from: BV [Visitor]
Poster David - since Timmy Mac isn't going to rip on you any more...allow ME to do so! ;)
1) Tim was talking about "American" airlines in GENERAL you twit, not the specifically branded 'American Airlines' (clue - the 'a' wasn't capped in 'airlines')
2) The word you wanted is 'egocentricity' not 'egocentricness' - just parse Webster's online dictionary for assitance...
3) I douby Timmy kept track of ALL the women he saw, for one thing he can't count that high...so if his 'sample size' was 200, they were just the ones he NOTICED. Even WorldGolf.com pays well enough for their "Senior Staff Writer" to travel thru airports with more than one flight a day...*S*
4) I believe Timmy Mac was being generous when he asked if you were suffering from Alzheimers or some other disorder. It was clear he was - in that first post - being as nice as he ever gets. I mean he didn't come right out and call you a freaking eejit...did he? ANd he was MORE than justified in doing so...
1) Tim was talking about "American" airlines in GENERAL you twit, not the specifically branded 'American Airlines' (clue - the 'a' wasn't capped in 'airlines')
2) The word you wanted is 'egocentricity' not 'egocentricness' - just parse Webster's online dictionary for assitance...
3) I douby Timmy kept track of ALL the women he saw, for one thing he can't count that high...so if his 'sample size' was 200, they were just the ones he NOTICED. Even WorldGolf.com pays well enough for their "Senior Staff Writer" to travel thru airports with more than one flight a day...*S*
4) I believe Timmy Mac was being generous when he asked if you were suffering from Alzheimers or some other disorder. It was clear he was - in that first post - being as nice as he ever gets. I mean he didn't come right out and call you a freaking eejit...did he? ANd he was MORE than justified in doing so...
05/07/08 @ 10:07
Comment from: BV [Visitor]
Note to Tim - gaaaahhhrrr - I agree, where are the Southwest HOTTIES when *I* fly?!?!??!
"Ma Joad" is an understatement - I wouldn't clean a chicken coop in what some women wear to fly! ;)
"Ma Joad" is an understatement - I wouldn't clean a chicken coop in what some women wear to fly! ;)
05/07/08 @ 10:10
Comment from: Wendy (UK) [Visitor]
You are both being very mean to David - I'm sure it was a genuine misunderstanding - which was what I was laughing at (and Tim's indignation), although for the first couple of posts I actually thought it was a wind-up. It was almost surreal and I am a bit sorry I interrupted their conversation now. As Tim is a self-confessed cleavage gawk, it was very gentlemanly of David to admonish him.
Hurry up with the blog on "See Spot Run", please.
Hurry up with the blog on "See Spot Run", please.
05/08/08 @ 05:41
It's true David doesn't seem like the type to gawk at women, if you get my drift.
05/08/08 @ 07:42
Comment from: BV [Visitor]
Wendy, hate to mention this but....MOST men who are attracted to women ARE "cleavage gawks". Some (me, perhaps) are just more discreet than others (Tim...lol)!!!
And come on...we can't be mean to the deficient folks in REAL LIFE, so we should be able to zap them when they wander in range here on the www. That's fair, isn't it?? ;)
And come on...we can't be mean to the deficient folks in REAL LIFE, so we should be able to zap them when they wander in range here on the www. That's fair, isn't it?? ;)
05/08/08 @ 12:38
Comment from: Wendy (UK) [Visitor]
I have absolutely no problem with cleavage gawks, BV, except if they happpen to be talking to me at the time - in the real world - when I retaliate in kind if you get my drift), but obviously David does.
Now perhaps if Tim were to "type slowly and with small words"?! Maybe it was "surreptitious" that got to David? Anyway, Tim's blog did amuse me, (cleavage bit especially) but you must admit it was made even funnier by David's posts and Tim's replies.
I think men just have fun hurling insults at each other, which is fair enough.
Now perhaps if Tim were to "type slowly and with small words"?! Maybe it was "surreptitious" that got to David? Anyway, Tim's blog did amuse me, (cleavage bit especially) but you must admit it was made even funnier by David's posts and Tim's replies.
I think men just have fun hurling insults at each other, which is fair enough.
05/08/08 @ 14:11
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