# I believe my window etiquette is correct **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 19, 2018, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-believe-my-window-etiquette-is-correct/818182 "2018-07-19T03:41:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2018, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-believe-my-window-etiquette-is-correct/818182/21 "2018-07-19T21:41:58Z")
> [@PlaceboTarget](#): > > A child can easily stare inside through those windows and get away with it. Yeah, and get a demerit. And give their parents one too, for raising such an uncouth brat. Probably never even spank him for spying on neighbors couches. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-believe-my-window-etiquette-is-correct/818182/22 "2018-07-20T03:22:12Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > And . . . What? > > Set up lawn chairs? Play bocce? Do that paparazzi thing? And…look in your window when they go past. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-believe-my-window-etiquette-is-correct/818182/23 "2018-07-20T03:45:33Z")
It’s all about the material you sew your curtains with … use something light and shear … get it: “see-through” … Generally during the day, there’s more light outside than inside … and this makes it difficult for folks outside to see-through the fabric, just too much light banging off the curtains to see anything inside … darker on the inside means far less light and the material becomes more transparent looking out where light in abundant … not perfect but I think it would work in this scenario … Just remember the opposite is true at night … it is the folks inside that are getting blasted with light, and folks outside who see every little detail inside … so don’t forget to draw the blinds … Have we as a society become so isolated we can’t even look at each other? … ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-believe-my-window-etiquette-is-correct/818182/24 "2018-07-20T04:01:52Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > Actually, that kind of is the point. One should walk _behind_ the Queen, or at best beside her should one be of equal station, but never in front. That would be unusual enough to cause people to look. And take notes. And report it in the worldwide media. Methinks thou wantest that not. Sure, in public, but in my living room? If I have the Queen over, it isn’t to put on a window show. We should be able to do what we want without a lot of peeping. > [@TBG](#): > > Yeah, and get a demerit. And give their parents one too, for raising such an uncouth brat. Probably never even spank him for spying on neighbors couches. :smack: Probably more sensible to just classify kids with the animals and let 'em off. > [@CookingWithGas](#): > > And…look in your window when they go past. People have actually set up lawn chairs out on the grass where I can see them from the couch, sunbathing with the dog. I never caught them looking in my windows! ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-believe-my-window-etiquette-is-correct/818182/25 "2018-07-20T06:57:34Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > It is kind of a non-issue that nobody is peeping in my windows. In the absence of that, it is a little odd that I have all these rules about it, which everyone seems to follow without being told, and that I remain on the lookout for peepers anyway. It is a sort of reflex to monitor all the passersby for peeping. If it’s odd enough to worry you, then the cheap answer is, as I’ve said, net curtains (let the light in but make any remote prospect of peepers impossible). The expensive answer is lots of counselling to work out why it matters to you. Or you could just accept that the vast majority of people just aren’t interested enough to peep, and anyway probably were brought up to much the same sort of rules about it as you seem to expect. And maybe look for something else to get you off the awesome couch and keep you busy. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-believe-my-window-etiquette-is-correct/818182/26 "2018-07-20T07:06:58Z")
“I stroked one of Tagm’s hands, gazed again at the slowly revolving planet, my gaze flicking in one glance from pole to equator. ‘You know, when I was in Paris, seeing Linter for the first time, I was standing at the top of some steps in the courtyard where Linter’s place was, and I looked across it and there was a little notice on the wall saying it was forbidden to take photographs of the courtyard without the man’s permission.’ I turned to Tagm. ‘They want to own the light!’” _― Iain M Banks, The State of the Art_ ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-believe-my-window-etiquette-is-correct/818182/27 "2018-07-20T09:54:31Z")
Why not have the blinds partially open? Tilt the slats so that some light gets in for your plants but closed enough so that outsiders can’t see in. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-believe-my-window-etiquette-is-correct/818182/28 "2018-07-20T11:55:37Z")
I only look into people’s windows when there is a cat sitting in the window seal. And when that happens, I don’t give a damn about your “window etiquette”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-believe-my-window-etiquette-is-correct/818182/29 "2018-07-20T12:49:28Z")
You need to adopt the Baltimore practice of [painted window screens](https://www.google.com/search?q=BALTIMORE+PAINTED+SCREENS&client=firefox-b-1&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjVqvrq2a3cAhXLXCwKHRcVDiMQ_AUICygC&biw=1394&bih=878#imgrc=_). You can see out but they can’t see in! My grandparents and my sister lived in city row houses and the screens were perfect for privacy. And some were quite attractive. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-believe-my-window-etiquette-is-correct/818182/30 "2018-07-20T13:14:24Z")
I think it’s personal preference. I keep mine closed because of preference and convenience. Yeah, no one should be peering in, but I don’t want all the door to door salespeople taking it as an invitation and other things. True story: I was accused of sexual harassment when I was about 5 years-old because I looked into a neighbor’s window while I was spending the day at my aunt’s apartment. ---
**Author:** ![betterlifethroughchemistry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/betterlifethroughchemistry/32/3094_2.png) [@betterlifethroughchemistry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betterlifethroughchemistry)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-believe-my-window-etiquette-is-correct/818182/31 "2018-07-20T22:18:37Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > You need to adopt the Baltimore practice of [painted window screens](https://www.google.com/search?q=BALTIMORE+PAINTED+SCREENS&client=firefox-b-1&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjVqvrq2a3cAhXLXCwKHRcVDiMQ_AUICygC&biw=1394&bih=878#imgrc=_). You can see out but they can’t see in! My grandparents and my sister lived in city row houses and the screens were perfect for privacy. And some were quite attractive. One of my wife’s life-long best friend’s father was one of the more ‘famous’ (if that term could be used) Baltimore screen painter, Tom Lipka. [http://paintedscreens.org/thepainters.html](http://paintedscreens.org/thepainters.html) Shortly after we moved into our first house in Parkville, the house next to us became available and Tom and his wife moved in to be next to us - just wonderful people…We have several he gave us over the years…we hang them on the wall… Sorry for the thread derailment, OP, but **FairyChatMom** brought up a subject near and dear to our hearts… ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2018, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-believe-my-window-etiquette-is-correct/818182/32 "2018-07-21T11:20:56Z")
Assuming I could actually see in at all, I most likely would have peeked once, then never again, because I know what’s in there. As such, if you missed that single peek, you’d never see me peeking in again, and assume I never peeked. Though I agree that it’s probably a lot harder to see in than you think. I’ve never been able to see into my neighbors windows except when they have a TV I can see through it. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2018, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-believe-my-window-etiquette-is-correct/818182/33 "2018-07-21T11:30:35Z")
You lived in Parkville? I’m Parkville Sr. High class of '72! Howdy, (sorta) neighbor!! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-believe-my-window-etiquette-is-correct/818182.md?page=1)