# Are there any actual laws/airlines regulations about armrest use? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 31, 2017, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-actual-laws-airlines-regulations-about-armrest-use/783439 "2017-03-31T19:27:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-actual-laws-airlines-regulations-about-armrest-use/783439/21 "2017-04-03T15:09:06Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > ETA: still waiting on “skosh.” Ninja’d, but [more reading about “skosh”](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/skosh) if you’re interested. There are pretty wide swaths of the U.S. where the word is never heard, though. Usually words brought over from war diffuse more thoroughly throughout American English than what “skosh” has done. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-actual-laws-airlines-regulations-about-armrest-use/783439/22 "2017-04-04T02:32:38Z")
IME “skosh” is a pretty universal bit of US slang. Certainly not anything worth anyone remarking over. It seems a bit archaic now; its heyday was probably the 1960s. But I still use it and hear it often; probably once every couple weeks from some random somebody or other. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-actual-laws-airlines-regulations-about-armrest-use/783439/23 "2017-04-04T03:32:51Z")
Huh. Me (NYC) never. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-actual-laws-airlines-regulations-about-armrest-use/783439/24 "2017-04-04T12:28:09Z")
Reading those links I may have overstated the case. I grew up in Los Angeles in the 1960s & '70s. Which was at that time a region with lots of Japanese immigrants with a definite cultural presence. Not quite as significant a bloc as, say, the Italians in NYC, but still a big and obvious group. This was both purely ethnic Japanese families and also many mixed marriages of US servicemen to Japanese natives. Quite literally, every school class I attended from Kindergarten up through grad school had at least one Japanese surname or someone with 50% or more obvious Japanese ethnicity. And usually more than one. We certainly didn’t think of skosh as Japanese. If you’d asked me then, I’d have bet it’d came from from the Midwestern farm country or Olde English. So it may be a word that was diffusing across the US from west to east starting in the 1950s or so that sorta ran out of popularity before crossing the Hudson. IOW, it was just a skosh too weak to make it the last couple of blocks to your house. 🙂 As to the word itself … The Merriam Webster entry seems off to me. To me, “skosh” is exactly equivalent to “tad” or “smidgen”: “Mmm. Mmm. It needs more salt. But just a tad/smidgen/skosh.” It also has an adjectival form “skoshy” meaning marginal: “Are you going to fit into that parking space? It looks skoshy to me.” or “A: The movie starts a 8 sharp; will we get there on time? B: It’ll be skoshy”. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-actual-laws-airlines-regulations-about-armrest-use/783439/25 "2017-04-04T16:59:26Z")
Raised in Oklahoma most of my early life, 1945 to 1998. As early as I can remember, everyone knew and most used ‘skosh’ & even today I still use it and have never had anyone not understand. YMMV ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-actual-laws-airlines-regulations-about-armrest-use/783439/26 "2017-04-04T17:59:52Z")
I think NYC has its own private set of slang driven by the large Jewish, Italian, and eastern European contingents. In the face of that much powerful slang pushing outwards, it’s kinda hard for anything from elsewhere to diffuse the other way. Back in the early/mid 20th Century so much of what got published or broadcast across the US was based in NYC that’d it’d be real easy for a New Yorker to think the whole country spoke like them. Warner Brothers was based in Los Angeles (Burbank specifically), but Bugs Bunny spoke with a Brooklyn accent. Not by accident. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-actual-laws-airlines-regulations-about-armrest-use/783439/27 "2017-04-04T18:07:33Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I think NYC has its own private set of slang driven by the large Jewish, Italian, and eastern European contingents. In the face of that much powerful slang pushing outwards, it’s kinda hard for anything from elsewhere to diffuse the other way. > > Back in the early/mid 20th Century so much of what got published or broadcast across the US was based in NYC that’d it’d be real easy for a New Yorker to think the whole country spoke like them. > > Warner Brothers was based in Los Angeles (Burbank specifically), but Bugs Bunny spoke with a Brooklyn accent. Not by accident. Yes. Fascinating. One of my common witticisms/truly held to be true facts is that an average African American in NYC knows more Yiddish than the average Israeli. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-actual-laws-airlines-regulations-about-armrest-use/783439/28 "2017-04-04T20:38:01Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Yes. Fascinating. > > One of my common witticisms/truly held to be true facts is that an average African American in NYC knows more Yiddish than the average Israeli. From watching Bugs Bunny? ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2017, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-actual-laws-airlines-regulations-about-armrest-use/783439/29 "2017-04-04T21:43:25Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Huh. Me (NYC) never. Meanwhile , I heard it in NYC often enough that I would have guessed it was Yiddish. ---
**Author:** ![Orwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dfb087/32.png) [@Orwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orwell)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-actual-laws-airlines-regulations-about-armrest-use/783439/30 "2017-04-05T15:34:50Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Back in the early/mid 20th Century so much of what got published or broadcast across the US was based in NYC that’d it’d be real easy for a New Yorker to think the whole country spoke like them. You don’t need the first seven words of that sentence. Nor the past tense structure. ---
**Author:** ![Orwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dfb087/32.png) [@Orwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orwell)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-actual-laws-airlines-regulations-about-armrest-use/783439/31 "2017-04-05T15:36:40Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Back in the early/mid 20th Century so much of what got published or broadcast across the US was based in NYC that’d it’d be real easy for a New Yorker to think the whole country spoke like them. You don’t need the first seven words of that sentence. Nor the past tense structure. I’ve lived in PA and MD my entire life, and everyone knows what skosh means. Just a semi-humorous way of saying “smidgen”. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-actual-laws-airlines-regulations-about-armrest-use/783439/32 "2017-04-05T15:39:59Z")
I was being polite. There was a whole second paragraph in there that I deleted before posting about NYC residents’ acute provincialism while loudly proclaiming their uber-cosmopolitanism. In a most grating accent and at least 20dB too loudly. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-actual-laws-airlines-regulations-about-armrest-use/783439/33 "2017-04-05T16:48:37Z")
> [@R.P.McMurphy](#): > > From watching Bugs Bunny? This would be a good whoosh, or if not a whoosh, a good fact. Just to be sure ([:o on myself), no. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-actual-laws-airlines-regulations-about-armrest-use/783439/34 "2017-04-05T18:46:02Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > This would be a good whoosh, or if not a whoosh, a good fact. > > Just to be sure ([:o on myself), no. Just looking to bring a smile on a dreary day! Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-actual-laws-airlines-regulations-about-armrest-use/783439/35 "2017-04-05T19:08:31Z")
Just to jump in on the derail, is “skosh” is a familiar, mundane word for me. And I’ve heard it in use “in the wild” in Japanese media (pronounced more like “sko-she”.) Also, why am I surprised that there was [a Dope column for that](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1032/whats-the-origin-of-skosh-meaning-a-little-bit)? There is a Dope column for everything… ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-actual-laws-airlines-regulations-about-armrest-use/783439/36 "2017-04-05T19:12:57Z")
So, some of you guys are comfortable with getting someone else kicked off a flight or perhaps charged thousands of dollars more that they might if might not be able to afford in order to avoid a little bit of discomfort that will last a finite amount of time. Interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-actual-laws-airlines-regulations-about-armrest-use/783439/37 "2017-04-05T19:27:42Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > So, some of you guys are comfortable with getting someone else kicked off a flight or perhaps charged thousands of dollars more that they might if might not be able to afford in order to avoid a little bit of discomfort that will last a finite amount of time. Interesting. Sure. I suspect flying is a necessity in relatively few instances. I don’t care the reason, stay out of the tiny little space that I paid for. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-actual-laws-airlines-regulations-about-armrest-use/783439/38 "2017-04-05T19:35:46Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > So, some of you guys are comfortable with getting someone else kicked off a flight or perhaps charged thousands of dollars more that they might if might not be able to afford in order to avoid a little bit of discomfort that will last a finite amount of time. Interesting. Quoting from the OP: > [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > I was seated in a window seat, and the man in the middle seat beside me was extremely large. I mean, in all ways: tall, broad-shouldered, and overweight. Picture a professional football player who has retired and put on at least an extra hundred pounds. > > Almost the moment he arrived he raised the arm rest between us and his mass sort of flowed over into my seat. Even when I shifted to pressing myself against the wall of the plane, his thigh & torso was pushing firmly against me. > > I found this very unpleasant. Both physically (I was having to sit with my back crooked) and psychologically. I’m not a touchy-feely type person, and having a total stranger press his body against mine that way felt intrusive. > > … > > for hours after that, my back was really screwed up from sitting twisted to one side for so long.) The OP’s discomfort - both during and for hours after the flight - did not sound trivial. gentle thigh-to-thigh contact that crosses the center plane of the armrest by an inch or so is one thing, but if I was faced with the contortions that the OP described, I’d certainly ask the flight attendant to reseat one of us. I would hope the guy doesn’t get booted or charged extra, but if the alternative is an anxiety-filled flight followed by hours of back pain for me, then tough luck for him. For the 90-minute flight the OP described, the overcharge for a second seat (if it happens at all) would not have been thousands of dollars, and another flight would likely have been available in fairly short order; the oversized gentleman would not have been terribly inconvenienced, logistically or financially. For a longer flight - say, an international flight that happens only once per day - there’s absolutely no way I’d be willing to twist myself up like that for hours and hours, even if it means the oversized gentleman has to wait a day. If everyone one the plane has to pay a few bucks more on their ticket to afford the guy an extra seat, that’s one thing - but to ask that one single fellow passenger to physically bear the entire burden of his condition is too much. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-actual-laws-airlines-regulations-about-armrest-use/783439/39 "2017-04-05T19:42:11Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > So, some of you guys are comfortable with getting someone else kicked off a flight or perhaps charged thousands of dollars more that they might if might not be able to afford in order to avoid a little bit of discomfort that will last a finite amount of time. Interesting. If by a “little bit of discomfort that will last a finite amount of time” you mean pain from my neck to my shoulders to my back that will last through a five hour flight and then through through most of the five or six days I’m at my destination at which point I’m likely to be _s_quashed\* again\* on the flight home and have another few days of pain after I arrive, yeah, I’m more worried about my pain than that person’s wallet. You don’t seem concerned that he’s more worried about his wallet than my pain. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-actual-laws-airlines-regulations-about-armrest-use/783439/40 "2017-04-05T19:46:09Z")
One company that makes airline seating has an [interesting idea](https://www.wired.com/2017/04/aircraft-design-thatll-make-love-middle-seat-no-joke/); move the middle seat back a couple of inches from the aisle and window seats. The idea is that the people on the outside will find it uncomfortable to use the armrest. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-actual-laws-airlines-regulations-about-armrest-use/783439.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-actual-laws-airlines-regulations-about-armrest-use/783439.md?page=3)