# Explain this Seinfeld scene **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 6, 2012, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-seinfeld-scene/612002 "2012-02-06T19:36:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-seinfeld-scene/612002/21 "2012-02-08T01:04:29Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > You did! (so did I) Not that there’s anyth…Ahhh, on second thought, never mind. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-seinfeld-scene/612002/22 "2012-02-08T02:16:39Z")
You know, I never thought of him as being possibly gay before, but now that you mention it (and I am very familiar with that episode as it is one of my favorites), I think they MAY have been hinting that he was gay. Good catch! ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-seinfeld-scene/612002/23 "2012-02-08T03:28:23Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > No…is that a gay thing too? 😕 In the 1960s, it was a common trope, at least among high-schoolers that gay men wore green on Thursdays. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of backstory to explain it, though it was common enough to be referenced in the _National Lampoon_’s Yearbook Parody. It’s possible that that evolved into the aforementioned “hanky code.” ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-seinfeld-scene/612002/24 "2012-02-08T03:36:26Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > The only reason to show the earring is for the joke of the manager actually being gay as well–OR to imply that he might be gay or…that he might not be. That whole scene (and maybe the whole episode really?–it has been awhile) is about how things can be misconstrued. > > The fact that it’s never referenced again means nothing–were there any diner owner-centric episodes in the show? Why would it be referenced again? Yes. The point is that it’s not clear. The earring suggests that he _might_ be gay… and he might not. AS **PYD** notes, the whole episode is about misconstruing and making assumptions that may or may not be factual. Jerry and George are “outed” through misunderstandings and assumptions, so this is an example where they, too, might have made an assumption. I always thought the “piercing on the left means you’re gay” thing didn’t make any sense unless you were in a place like Provincetown or San Francisco. This was pre-Internet, and there didn’t seem to be any definitive source for this. And it’s not like it’s the easiest thing in the world to pierce the other ear if you got it wrong. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-seinfeld-scene/612002/25 "2012-02-09T00:49:55Z")
> [@Hippy\_Hollow](#): > > I always thought the “piercing on the left means you’re gay” thing didn’t make any sense unless you were in a place like Provincetown or San Francisco. This was pre-Internet, and there didn’t seem to be any definitive source for this. And it’s not like it’s the easiest thing in the world to pierce the other ear if you got it wrong. 🙂 Maybe it doesn’t make sense but word of “left earring = straight, right earring = gay” had trickled down to whitebread all-straight suburban Michigan pre-teens by the mid-late 80’s, so it was certainly around and widely known well before Seinfeld even began. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-seinfeld-scene/612002.md?page=1)