# Do women nowadays snap their legs open or shut to catch small items dropped while sitting? : "Gay?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 27, 2012, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-nowadays-snap-their-legs-open-or-shut-to-catch-small-items-dropped-while-sitting-gay/645235 "2012-12-27T00:09:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [December 27, 2012, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-nowadays-snap-their-legs-open-or-shut-to-catch-small-items-dropped-while-sitting-gay/645235/1 "2012-12-27T00:09:35Z")
See subject. In junior high school boys said that’s how you could always tell if someone is a fag (our words then), defined in our puny minds as a crossdresser. The “instinctive” catch when something slips, depending on if you wear skirts or dresses (a woman, natch) or a true guy, with pants. Also, since I’m at it, we used to say that how you examine your nails shows if you’re a fag or not. Quick, check them! Did you curl your four-fingers in (minus thumb) and turn your palm towards you? Or did you extend your fingers, the back of the hand towards you? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-nowadays-snap-their-legs-open-or-shut-to-catch-small-items-dropped-while-sitting-gay/645235/2 "2012-12-27T00:13:49Z")
Legs together for this chick. I wear plenty of skirts, but even when I’m wearing skirts, it’s legs together. (This part of Huck Finn confused me as a girl.) ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-nowadays-snap-their-legs-open-or-shut-to-catch-small-items-dropped-while-sitting-gay/645235/3 "2012-12-27T00:19:43Z")
I spend the majority of my time in pants, so tend to close the knees to catch dropped objects. I usually extend fingers with palm down for a quick look at the nails, a more detailed examination involves turning my palm toward my face and curling fingers down. I’m very near-sighted, so even with my glasses on, getting my fingers reasonably near my eyes is the priority. ---
**Author:** ![applebetty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4af34b/32.png) [@applebetty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/applebetty)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-nowadays-snap-their-legs-open-or-shut-to-catch-small-items-dropped-while-sitting-gay/645235/4 "2012-12-27T00:46:25Z")
This is from a scene in Huckleberry Finn (the movie) where he dresses like a girl for some reason. He is in a dress sitting on a porch with an old woman, shelling peas or some similar task. She decides to test if he is boy or girl by throwing something at his lap. He closes his knees to catch it, and she remarks that a girl would spread her knees to catch it in her skirt. These days most women don’t wear long dresses, so they catch as catch can. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-nowadays-snap-their-legs-open-or-shut-to-catch-small-items-dropped-while-sitting-gay/645235/5 "2012-12-27T00:47:16Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > See subject. > > In junior high school boys said that’s how you could always tell if someone is a fag (our words then), defined in our puny minds as a crossdresser. The “instinctive” catch when something slips, depending on if you wear skirts or dresses (a woman, natch) or a true guy, with pants. And how many male gay youth were wearing skirts but trying to pass as straight such that this would catch them up? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-nowadays-snap-their-legs-open-or-shut-to-catch-small-items-dropped-while-sitting-gay/645235/6 "2012-12-27T00:50:03Z")
Yeah, the thing with the hands was going around even when I was in Junior High, in the late '50s. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-nowadays-snap-their-legs-open-or-shut-to-catch-small-items-dropped-while-sitting-gay/645235/7 "2012-12-27T00:50:17Z")
> [@applebetty](#): > > This is from a scene in Huckleberry Finn (the movie) where he dresses like a girl for some reason. He is in a dress sitting on a porch with an old woman, shelling peas or some similar task. She decides to test if he is boy or girl by throwing something at his lap. He closes his knees to catch it, and she remarks that a girl would spread her knees to catch it in her skirt. > > These days most women don’t wear long dresses, so they catch as catch can. I’m pretty sure he gets caught in the book too. He was running away from home and had this really bright idea to do it disguised in a stolen dress. I seem to remember that he was wearing a girl’s bonnet too and refused to take it off, ostensibly because he was afraid that it would be easier to tell he was a boy if he had it off and people could see his full face/head. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-nowadays-snap-their-legs-open-or-shut-to-catch-small-items-dropped-while-sitting-gay/645235/8 "2012-12-27T00:54:17Z")
I know this is really hard to believe, but not everything stated as fact by middle school boys is actually true. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-nowadays-snap-their-legs-open-or-shut-to-catch-small-items-dropped-while-sitting-gay/645235/9 "2012-12-27T01:02:23Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > I know this is really hard to believe, but not everything stated as fact by middle school boys is actually true. But I really am rubber, and you are glue. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-nowadays-snap-their-legs-open-or-shut-to-catch-small-items-dropped-while-sitting-gay/645235/10 "2012-12-27T01:19:53Z")
Yeah, I remember reading that Mark Twain book when I was a kid. And almost all my adult life, I’ve worn pants. I think the last dress I wore was for my daughter’s baptism…in 1983. And I smile to myself when I drop something to my lap, because I ALWAYS put my legs together to try to catch it! ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-nowadays-snap-their-legs-open-or-shut-to-catch-small-items-dropped-while-sitting-gay/645235/11 "2012-12-27T01:20:05Z")
Female, snap together. The last time I voluntarily wore a skirt was for my job interview… over 4 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-nowadays-snap-their-legs-open-or-shut-to-catch-small-items-dropped-while-sitting-gay/645235/12 "2012-12-27T02:15:36Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Yeah, the thing with the hands was going around even when I was in Junior High, in the late '50s. So I’m sure it’s been scientifically proven by now. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-nowadays-snap-their-legs-open-or-shut-to-catch-small-items-dropped-while-sitting-gay/645235/13 "2012-12-28T03:14:38Z")
> [@Rachellelogram](#): > > Female, snap together. The last time I voluntarily wore a skirt was for my job interview… over 4 years ago. You’ve been forced since then? ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-nowadays-snap-their-legs-open-or-shut-to-catch-small-items-dropped-while-sitting-gay/645235/14 "2012-12-28T17:12:20Z")
I think National Lampoon had the “Are you a homo?” bit back in the 70’s. Had some classics like Michaelangelo’s statute of David (circle the part(s) that seem out of proportion). The clincher was whether you wore your watch with the face inside your wrist or outside… Obviously these sorts of “tests” were meant to mock the anxiety of teen guys who seemed to think everyone around them was getting laid and they weren’t, so there must be something wrong with them. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-nowadays-snap-their-legs-open-or-shut-to-catch-small-items-dropped-while-sitting-gay/645235/15 "2012-12-28T17:17:54Z")
Holy shit, I’m straight! ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-nowadays-snap-their-legs-open-or-shut-to-catch-small-items-dropped-while-sitting-gay/645235/16 "2012-12-28T17:23:33Z")
All other things aside, I learned not to catch things with my thighs when, at about 12, I caught an exacto knife that way. Still have the scar… on one thigh, fortunately, or my gender might be in question now. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-nowadays-snap-their-legs-open-or-shut-to-catch-small-items-dropped-while-sitting-gay/645235/17 "2012-12-28T17:26:13Z")
I wonder if anyone ever tried the legs open/closed trick with men of the Black Watch, who used to wear kilts _all_ the time. Apparently they don’t wear them all the time anymore. ---
**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:** [December 28, 2012, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-nowadays-snap-their-legs-open-or-shut-to-catch-small-items-dropped-while-sitting-gay/645235/18 "2012-12-28T17:58:24Z")
I doubt it’s because they were tired of being called fags. Try it and see. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-nowadays-snap-their-legs-open-or-shut-to-catch-small-items-dropped-while-sitting-gay/645235/19 "2012-12-28T18:04:21Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > Yeah, I remember reading that Mark Twain book when I was a kid. And almost all my adult life, I’ve worn pants. I think the last dress I wore was for my daughter’s baptism…in 1983. > ~VOW You’ve gone longer without wearing a dress than I have… …and I’m a guy. 1998 - Halloween - 8 yr old Bubbagirl was a pretty princess and got lots of candy. Bubbadog with his full beard and ample chest hair wore a blonde wig, a low cut dress and collected darn near a 12 pack of brewskis. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-nowadays-snap-their-legs-open-or-shut-to-catch-small-items-dropped-while-sitting-gay/645235/20 "2012-12-28T18:06:29Z")
I would hope modern teenagers have advanced to more scientific ways of witch hunting for homosexuals, such as the [digit ratio test.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digit_ratio) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-nowadays-snap-their-legs-open-or-shut-to-catch-small-items-dropped-while-sitting-gay/645235.md?page=2)