# Do you consider this men's shirt business casual? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 6, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-this-mens-shirt-business-casual/697700 "2014-09-06T22:07:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-this-mens-shirt-business-casual/697700/61 "2014-09-10T01:45:10Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Well, we can certainly go the Jeremiad route (there are plenty of etiquette mavens who do) and decry the degradation of the standard, but surely you must admit that at some point, if a majority of people consider a particular outfit semiformal or business casual, then that’s semiformal or business casual. > > If I were attending a conference or some other get-together that I was not familiar with and it specified business casual, I would assume that means a blazer is not necessary but I’d wear dress slacks, a dress shirt, and keep a tie on hand just in case. But I wouldn’t be doing it because I felt it was more professional or anything. I’d do it because the even svens, ravenmans, stratocasters and punditlisas would be a pain in my neck about it. And you’d be overdressed at most of the conferences I’ve been to - including Gartner conferences targeted to CIOs and VPs - but I’m an IT project manager from the Midwest. The company I used to work for had to tell people that flip flops and cut offs weren’t business casual. Not in the Midwest, that was the Californians - in the Valley - in tech. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-this-mens-shirt-business-casual/697700/62 "2014-09-10T02:41:57Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > And you’d be overdressed at most of the conferences I’ve been to - including Gartner conferences targeted to CIOs and VPs - but I’m an IT project manager from the Midwest. Really? I’ve been to both ITxpo and Catalyst recently. At ITxpo, I think I was the only person wearing jeans. At Catalyst, there were maybe fifty of us. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-this-mens-shirt-business-casual/697700/63 "2014-09-10T09:03:38Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > If I were attending a conference or some other get-together that I was not familiar with and it specified business casual, I would assume that means a blazer is not necessary but I’d wear dress slacks, a dress shirt, and keep a tie on hand just in case. But I wouldn’t be doing it because I felt it was more professional or anything. I’d do it because the even svens, ravenmans, stratocasters and punditlisas would be a pain in my neck about it. I wouldn’t even mention it to you (unless maybe if you reported to me, and then only as a coaching opportunity). You would simply be some guy who didn’t understand what business casual means. That’s not the crime of the century. I’m not suggesting you should be arrested or fired. There’s some real interesting inferences being made in this thread about what people’s values are and how harshly judgments would be applied, and I’m not seeing the basis for it. The question was, “Is this biz casual?” The answer, IMO, is “no.” If you wore a tuxedo or a suit of armor or a Sgt. Pepper’s band uniform, I would likewise think, “Must not know what business casual means.” That’s IMHO, of course. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-this-mens-shirt-business-casual/697700/64 "2014-09-10T10:51:05Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > The company I used to work for had to tell people that flip flops and cut offs weren’t business casual. Not in the Midwest, that was the Californians - in the Valley - in tech. The company I used to work for included the line “women may not wear ball gowns” in the dress code. Every year when we had to “review” the damned dress code, a gay male pal threatened to wear a ball gown to work. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-this-mens-shirt-business-casual/697700.md?page=3)