# If You Saw Someone With Pants Unzipped....
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [September 22, 2009, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136 "2009-09-22T20:44:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2009, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/1 "2009-09-22T20:44:20Z")
… would you go up to them and softly tell 'em if they were a complete stranger?
How about if they were a complete stranger _and_ the opposite sex?
Thanks
Q
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### Author:  [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2009, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/2 "2009-09-22T20:45:38Z")
Hell yes, and I have before. It’s only polite!
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### Author:  [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2009, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/3 "2009-09-22T20:59:33Z")
Well I wish someone had done that for _me_ today. I went to my orthopaedist with my shorts unzipped, then went out to eat after that.
Maybe no one was checking out my crotchal region?😉
Quasi
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### Author:  [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2009, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/4 "2009-09-22T21:10:31Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#):
>
> … would you go up to them and softly tell 'em if they were a complete stranger?
>
> How about if they were a complete stranger _and_ the opposite sex?
>
> Thanks
>
> Q
“Your flies are undone” is a wonderful ice-breaker.
I can’t even begin to calculate how many times I’ve used that line. 😉
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### Author:  [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/5 "2009-09-22T21:19:02Z")
Well it depends. Is it a man or a woman? Is the toad still in the hole, so to speak?
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### Author:  [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2009, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/6 "2009-09-22T21:21:29Z")
> [@robardin](#):
>
> Is the toad still in the hole, so to speak?
😃
I would drop a hint to anyone I saw with an open fly if at all possible.
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### Author:  [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2009, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/7 "2009-09-22T21:24:20Z")
In my younger days, we used to say _“xyz”_, meaning “check your zipper”, although I don’t know how “x” came to mean a check-mark?
But **Chez?**
“Flies”, plural, in the UK?
Or am I not getting the joke? 😉
(Sorry! I’m a bit slow on the uptake at times!:))
Q
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### Author:  [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2009, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/8 "2009-09-22T21:27:06Z")
> [@robardin](#):
>
> Well it depends. Is it a man or a woman? Is the toad still in the hole, so to speak?
:D:D:D:D
I have NEVER heard that expression!🙂
Quasi
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### Author:  [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2009, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/9 "2009-09-22T21:32:18Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#):
>
> But **Chez?**
>
> “Flies”, plural, in the UK?
>
> Or am I not getting the joke? 😉
There may be regional variations regarding ‘fly’ versus ‘flies’, but I always use the latter.
Which is maybe why my ice-breaker doesn’t always break the ice. 🙂
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### Author:  [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2009, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/10 "2009-09-22T21:35:39Z")
If a verbal alert is not possible without drawing undue attention, I have discreetly passed a quick note to those in need (either sex)
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### Author:  [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2009, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/11 "2009-09-22T21:36:16Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#):
>
> In my younger days, we used to say _“xyz”_, meaning “check your zipper”, although I don’t know how “x” came to mean a check-mark?
I always believed it to be from “E **x** amine Your Zipper”. “XYZ, PDQ!”
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### Author:  [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2009, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/12 "2009-09-22T21:39:45Z")
> [@gigi](#):
>
> I always believed it to be from “E **x** amine Your Zipper”. “XYZ, PDQ!”
I think you are correct, **gigi**! Makes more sense that way.🙂
Q
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### Author:  [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2009, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/13 "2009-09-22T22:41:10Z")
In the 80s when people were still wearing short shorts, there was a guy enjoying our local arts festival whose penis peeked out of the bottom of his shorts.
My friend started laughing and pointed it out. I started laughing and asked if we should alert said man. My friend(guy) was like “I’m not telling him. You tell him.” I(guy) responded with “I’m not gonna tell him”. There was no Mikey. He went unalerted.
Today we would call this a dick slip.
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### Author:  [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2009, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/14 "2009-09-22T23:06:41Z")
Back when I was in the 7th grade (that would have been 1963, or therabouts) I played elementary school basketball, and yep, we wore short shorts then.
Anyway, my principal took me aside and showed me what a jock strap was.
I guess those things existed in Germany (where I was born and lived till age 11), but somehow I musta missed it in the transition and became a young “dick-slipper”!🙂
Quasi
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2009, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/15 "2009-09-22T23:28:09Z")
Not an open zipper, but a similar story. I was doing a job at American Embassy Tunis and somehow managed to be invited to an open house at the Ambassador’s residence (a beautiful place, by the way). Mrs. Ambassador swept into the room and started flitting about greeting people. Problem was, her blouse was buttoned at the top and tucked in at the bottom, but the rest was open. Not a big deal view-wise, but she’s - you know- the Ambassador’s _wife._ Apparently, everyone was afraid to say something to her, so I (as the absolutely lowest carving on the totem pole) walked up and said, “excuse me ma’am, may I have a word with you?” She was very grateful.
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### Author:  [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2009, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/16 "2009-09-22T23:37:17Z")
Somebody that just enters the area gets a private heads up.
Somebody that’s been giving a speech on stage and is just leaving I say nothing. It’s best that they can hope it happened somewhere besides on stage.
Somebody that’s obnoxious gets no warning unless they are coming off stage after giving a speech.
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2009, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/17 "2009-09-22T23:46:23Z")
I’ve told all kinds of people about all kinds of embarrassing stuff, so why exactly don’t I get it back in karma? I don’t know how long I went with my skirt tucked into my underwear at work once and NOBODY SAID A THING. Not strangers, coworkers! (And homeless guys! Although, I have to admit, they could have been trying to get my attention and I figured they were just harassing me again and ignored them.)
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### Author:  [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2009, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/18 "2009-09-22T23:50:45Z")
Ah yes the woman leaving the restroom with toilet paper trailing out from under the skirt. That’s always a good one. Note I’m not talking about toilet paper stuck to the shoe.
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### Author:  [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2009, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/19 "2009-09-22T23:54:26Z")
I’d tell him/her quietly.
I once overheard my 2-year old brother (20 and a half years younger than I am) telling my new husband: “Hey, ton magasin est ouvert!” That’s when I learned that “Your store is open” was a code for “your fly is unzipped” in my part of the world. Guess it had never arisen as an issue in my life till then.
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### Author:  [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2009, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-someone-with-pants-unzipped/511136/20 "2009-09-22T23:56:56Z")
> [@MoodIndigo1](#):
>
> I’d tell him/her quietly.
>
> I once overheard my 2-year old brother (20 and a half years younger than I am) telling my new husband: “Hey, ton magasin est ouvert!” That’s when I learned that “Your store is open” was a code for “your fly is unzipped” in my part of the world. Guess it had never arisen as an issue in my life till then.
Your barn door’s open.😉
or
Your cows are getting out.
or
Your sheep are getting out.
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