# Generic name for a velvet rope? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 14, 2012, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-name-for-a-velvet-rope/644035 "2012-12-14T16:22:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-name-for-a-velvet-rope/644035/1 "2012-12-14T16:22:46Z")
Used in movie theaters, banks and other service areas to provide assistance to those patrons who may be unfamiliar with the concept of forming a line. Is there a generic reference to this thing that is often neither velvet, nor a rope? ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-name-for-a-velvet-rope/644035/2 "2012-12-14T16:26:46Z")
Cordon? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-name-for-a-velvet-rope/644035/3 "2012-12-14T16:27:42Z")
They’re called stanchion ropes (the stanchion being the metal pole part) so there’s not much getting around the “rope” part. I suppose you could call them stanchion barriers or something. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-name-for-a-velvet-rope/644035/4 "2012-12-14T16:59:36Z")
Thanks, but how unsatisfying. These things are pervasive and ought to have a layman’s term associated with them. I like cordon better, but that sound more like a barrier than a guide and google returns only pictures of cheese-filled chicken breasts. ---
**Author:** ![destineal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@destineal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/destineal)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-name-for-a-velvet-rope/644035/5 "2012-12-14T17:06:53Z")
I think the generic name is “velvet rope.” ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-name-for-a-velvet-rope/644035/6 "2012-12-14T17:18:41Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > I like cordon better, but that sound more like a barrier than a guide… Barriers is what they are, really; barring people from certain directions of movement is how they function as guides. Sometimes cordoning off exclusive areas is all they’re doing. Stanchion ropes are a specific type of “crowd control barrier” (a French barrier or “bike rack” is another, for rowdier, outdoor applications). ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-name-for-a-velvet-rope/644035/7 "2012-12-15T07:35:03Z")
> [@destineal](#): > > I think the generic name is “velvet rope.” “Velvet rope” my ass. 🆒 Most of the ones I see – in banks and places like that typically – are “naugahyde ropes”. I might expect to see velvet ropes – real velvet ropes – in an expensive theater lobby perhaps. Out in the pedestrian world, it’s naugahyde. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-name-for-a-velvet-rope/644035/8 "2012-12-15T07:41:39Z")
Those poor naugas. I can only hope they were skynned humanely. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-name-for-a-velvet-rope/644035/9 "2012-12-15T08:56:58Z")
I probably see them more often as actual braided plastic ropes than the velvet (or faux velvet) covering. Probably because the softer stuff would get grimy and nasty in the bank line with everyone’s hands on it. Edit: Or the retractable belts. ---
**Author:** ![cougar58](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@cougar58](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cougar58)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-name-for-a-velvet-rope/644035/10 "2012-12-15T17:08:37Z")
> [@maggenpye](#): > > Those poor naugas. > > I can only hope they were skynned humanely. My upscale coats are made from virgin naugahyde ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-name-for-a-velvet-rope/644035/11 "2012-12-15T21:07:58Z")
> [@cougar58](#): > > My upscale coats are made from virgin naugahyde :eek: Thanks for noticing. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-name-for-a-velvet-rope/644035/12 "2012-12-15T23:18:16Z")
> [@maggenpye](#): > > Those poor naugas. > > I can only hope they were skynned humanely. _I measure my breathing with my Nasograph, It’s nice, but oh my, how it hurts when I laugh. My chair is upholstered in real Naugahyde; When they killed that nauga, I sat down and cried. (He moved to Chicaga when that nauga died!)_ [indent][indent]-- Allan Sherman, [_Chim Chim Cheree_](http://www.mp3lyrics.org/a/allan-sherman/chim-chim-cheree/)[/indent][/indent] > [@cougar58](#): > > My upscale coats are made from virgin naugahyde Ahem! REAL people wear FAKE naugahyde! ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-name-for-a-velvet-rope/644035/13 "2012-12-15T23:34:41Z")
When I worked at the Science Center, we always called them stanchions. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-name-for-a-velvet-rope/644035/14 "2012-12-16T05:50:28Z")
The stanchion is what, um, _stands,_ holding the fuzzy rope off the floor. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-name-for-a-velvet-rope/644035/15 "2012-12-16T06:32:32Z")
You’ll find them all at [StanchionWorld.com](http://StanchionWorld.com) Which sounds like a joke cf: Spatula City, but [isn’t](http://www.stanchionworld.com/). ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-name-for-a-velvet-rope/644035/16 "2012-12-16T08:02:59Z")
**Generic name for a velvet rope?** Handjob