# How Big a Faux Pas is it to Hang My Er Delicates on my Outdoor Clothesline **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 22, 2011, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-faux-pas-is-it-to-hang-my-er-delicates-on-my-outdoor-clothesline/589925 "2011-07-22T00:57:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-faux-pas-is-it-to-hang-my-er-delicates-on-my-outdoor-clothesline/589925/21 "2011-07-22T03:28:47Z")
TMI To all the “it’s just a piece of fabric people.” If you are any kind of attractive and left your panties there over night, there is a strong possibility that between 5th and 8th grade I might have stolen them and used them to jerk off. Just saying ---
**Author:** ![DoperChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@DoperChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoperChic)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-faux-pas-is-it-to-hang-my-er-delicates-on-my-outdoor-clothesline/589925/22 "2011-07-22T03:34:00Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > TMI > > To all the “it’s just a piece of fabric people.” > > If you are any kind of attractive and left your panties there over night, there is a strong possibility that between 5th and 8th grade I might have stolen them and used them to jerk off. Just saying Oh. My. God. :eek: It’s dark enough out and the clothesline is far enough from the porch that I can no longer see what is (or is not) out there right now. But this one post just might be enough of a motivator for me to at least head out into the darkness to retrieve my panties. And I am \*really \*afraid of the dark, people. There are all sorts of bugs and stuff out there. I mean nasty beetles way bigger than they have any right to be, foxes, stray cats, and goodness knows what else. Maybe I’ll just send my husband out instead. Commence Operation Pantie Retrieval! ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-faux-pas-is-it-to-hang-my-er-delicates-on-my-outdoor-clothesline/589925/23 "2011-07-22T03:40:11Z")
Sorry 🙂 prepubescent boys can do some amazingly weird stuff ---
**Author:** ![RedWood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f08c70/32.png) [@RedWood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedWood)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-faux-pas-is-it-to-hang-my-er-delicates-on-my-outdoor-clothesline/589925/24 "2011-07-22T04:06:06Z")
I like to dry my totally unexciting cotton bras in the sunshine. 😃 But my Italian grandma, who also had clothesline, dried hers pinned inside the pillowcases. :eek: ---
**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:** [July 22, 2011, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-faux-pas-is-it-to-hang-my-er-delicates-on-my-outdoor-clothesline/589925/25 "2011-07-22T04:21:40Z")
Go for it – I do. I never even thought it would be a big deal. (I’ll put my panties in the dryer, but not my bras – I always hang those up. If it’s too cold out, I’ll hang them up in the laundry room) ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-faux-pas-is-it-to-hang-my-er-delicates-on-my-outdoor-clothesline/589925/26 "2011-07-22T07:31:45Z")
> [@Sierra\_Indigo](#): > > Everyone wears underwear. Well, no. But everyone should, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-faux-pas-is-it-to-hang-my-er-delicates-on-my-outdoor-clothesline/589925/27 "2011-07-22T07:55:57Z")
It’s not a big deal. Your neighbor’s kids have seen their parents’ underwear, haven’t they? And if your clothesline isn’t all that visible and your undies will be sandwiched in between two other lines of laundry, I don’t see why anyone should be too concerned. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-faux-pas-is-it-to-hang-my-er-delicates-on-my-outdoor-clothesline/589925/28 "2011-07-22T08:15:21Z")
Hanging them out is OK, but be sure to where a burqa while hanging them out. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-faux-pas-is-it-to-hang-my-er-delicates-on-my-outdoor-clothesline/589925/29 "2011-07-22T09:49:40Z")
The etiquette duty here is not on you, but on anyone who might see the underwear. Etiquette allows for the fact that peole just have to wash and line dry stuff outside. The proper etiquette for anyone passing the line is to pretend to see nothing. For them to be remarking on it in any way is a huge etiquette faux pas. So you are in the clear. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-faux-pas-is-it-to-hang-my-er-delicates-on-my-outdoor-clothesline/589925/30 "2011-07-22T10:48:11Z")
I voted maybe - not because I think it’s a faux pas to hang unmentionables out on the line, but because I line dry a lot of my laundry, but the bras and panties dry inside. (Thanks for the suggestions to hang them inside pillowcases, though!) Why? Because I am a single woman in a semi-rural area where all my neighbors are couples, families or single men. And I’ve been hit on a couple of times by men who live in my neighborhood, and don’t fancy fueling any fantasies. 🙂 Even though my undies are for the most part utilitarian and cotton. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-faux-pas-is-it-to-hang-my-er-delicates-on-my-outdoor-clothesline/589925/31 "2011-07-22T12:51:12Z")
The bigger faux pas is to leave your clothes on the line overnight!😉 I usually dry the delicates inside on hangers in the laundry room, the rest of the family’s grundies go in the dryer, socks too. I mainly use the line to dry towels, sheets T’s, jeans that sort of stuff. There is nothing wrong at all with hanging out your underwear to dry, but in my yard, the way the wind spins my laundry pole, my panties would get all in a bunch…😛 or get blown away. Lots of people still think it is low class to hang your laundry out to dry, they’re idiots. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-faux-pas-is-it-to-hang-my-er-delicates-on-my-outdoor-clothesline/589925/32 "2011-07-22T12:57:18Z")
It totally depends. I know part of my lease is “no clotheslines” and I never see anyone doing it in my neighborhood, ever. I mean, it’s not worse than hanging the clothes back there in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-faux-pas-is-it-to-hang-my-er-delicates-on-my-outdoor-clothesline/589925/33 "2011-07-22T13:21:36Z")
> [@DoperChic](#): > > It’s really three lines all parallel to one another held up at each end by large T-shaped poles. I assumed so–that’s the standard form clotheslines come in. > [@](#): > > The plan is to hand any unmentionables on the middle line with other items on the outer lines to act as a sort of shield to the naughtier bits. Yeah, that’s how everyone I’ve ever known to use a clothesline did it. Sheets on the side neighbors are most likely to see so as to provide the most screenage, socks and undies in the middle with other smallish things filling out the rest of the line, then everything else on the other line. The sheets and drawers tend to dry faster than everything else, so by the time your sheets are ready to come in and lose your screen, your dainties are ready to come in too so you don’t need the screen any more. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-faux-pas-is-it-to-hang-my-er-delicates-on-my-outdoor-clothesline/589925/34 "2011-07-22T13:37:58Z")
I bring my unmentionables to the laudromat and wash and dry them in the machines. Anymore who doesn’t like it has major problems. ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-faux-pas-is-it-to-hang-my-er-delicates-on-my-outdoor-clothesline/589925/35 "2011-07-22T14:35:06Z")
I voted ‘maybe,’ although my actual answer is ‘it’s not that big a deal, but it’s better to hang them inside.’ Maybe I’m a prude, but although I’ve seen plenty of underwear, I don’t necessarily want to know the bra preferences of my neighbors. ---
**Author:** ![otternell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecc23a/32.png) [@otternell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otternell)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-faux-pas-is-it-to-hang-my-er-delicates-on-my-outdoor-clothesline/589925/36 "2011-07-22T14:53:29Z")
I wouldn’t hang it on the line, but I don’t hang any clothing on the line. I hang blankets, sheets, towels, etc, but not clothes. I would never hang underwear on the line, sure everyone has seen it in general, but there’s no need for them to see **mine** in specific. Hell I don’t think people should “air their dirty laundry in public” by having too private a conversation in public. Just because you CAN do something in public does not mean that you SHOULD. IMHO, YMMV, etc. It wouldn’t bother me that someone else does it - just that I won’t. Would I pitch a fit - nope. If I saw it, it would be along the lines of “huh - they’re line drying their drawers, not my choice, but whatever.” I really do try my best to live by my personal motto “whatever floats your boat”. But I reserve the right to have an opinion that I generally keep to myself. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-faux-pas-is-it-to-hang-my-er-delicates-on-my-outdoor-clothesline/589925/37 "2011-07-22T15:14:43Z")
Unless it’s kinky crotchless leather sex suits, I think you’re fine. I wouldn’t leave the stuff out overnight, not just because of pervy 7th graders, but also because I seem to recall little flying beasties landing on and hanging out in clothing that was left out over night back when I had a clothes line. ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-faux-pas-is-it-to-hang-my-er-delicates-on-my-outdoor-clothesline/589925/38 "2011-07-22T15:20:36Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > prepubescent boys can do some amazingly weird stuff This. You probably won’t ever have anything stolen, but if the idea bothers you a lot I wouldn’t take the risk. Putting that aside, it sounds like you are being appropriately discreet with the line in back and putting the delicates on the middle line. ---
**Author:** ![Teacake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Teacake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teacake)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-faux-pas-is-it-to-hang-my-er-delicates-on-my-outdoor-clothesline/589925/39 "2011-07-22T23:02:53Z")
I’m also a teacher, and some of my students live on my estate, with a perfectly lovely and unobscured view of my clothes line. I generally dry underwear indoors or sandwiched between other lines of less personal clothes, as you’re proposing. My partner thinks this is a bit pathetic, and always hangs out the whole wash without any attempt at discretion. I dunno - I know my students know that I wear pants, I just don’t really like the thought of the little weirdos checking them out! However if I lived somewhere with a line as private as yours sounds, I’d hang it all out without another thought. ---
**Author:** ![apollonia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@apollonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/apollonia)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2011, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-faux-pas-is-it-to-hang-my-er-delicates-on-my-outdoor-clothesline/589925/40 "2011-07-23T00:56:55Z")
You may also want to think twice about leaving your clothes out overnight if dew settling on them and then having to re-dry bothers you. As for wee bugs, a good solid shake when bringing stuff off the line usually does the trick for anything that finds your clothes more comfortable than you do. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-faux-pas-is-it-to-hang-my-er-delicates-on-my-outdoor-clothesline/589925.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-a-faux-pas-is-it-to-hang-my-er-delicates-on-my-outdoor-clothesline/589925.md?page=3)