# LAP-ing is not allowed. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 26, 2010, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lap-ing-is-not-allowed/555122 "2010-09-26T18:39:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lap-ing-is-not-allowed/555122/41 "2010-10-01T03:07:30Z")
I own a pair of black jeans that aren’t jeans, because they are leggings. More specifically…Jeggings! Take that, fashion police! ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lap-ing-is-not-allowed/555122/42 "2010-10-01T03:18:01Z")
> [@Kiwi\_Fruit](#): > > > [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > > > …I told that buyer that NOBODY was buying those Tshirts, even though they were very affordable and were cute on a hanger, because the stripes went horizontally. She said “But they’re so cheap!” and I said nobody wants to look fatter, no matter how cheap the garment is. She said that she couldn’t find Tshirts with vertical stripes, and I said then get them without stripes, or do without them…because it made no sense to buy things, no matter what the price, if we couldn’t sell them. > > > > I don’t know why manufacturers won’t make more flattering designs. > > [This is an old link but purports to debunk the horizontal stripe meme.](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/3351615/Horizontal-stripes-make-you-look-thinner.html) And for immediate release: black pants don’t make you look thinner. (Every damned fat woman I see wears black pants. :smack:) ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lap-ing-is-not-allowed/555122/43 "2010-10-01T03:32:17Z")
Okay, I love leggings. The look of long top or tunic over leggings is one I really like. And I still have some leggings left over from the 80s! (Well, I was a little slow. I think actually I bought these in the early '90s. Whatever. Yes, I have clothing older than some of my kids.) As to horizontal stripes, it’s win-win. Either you look fat, in which case people can say, “Well, but she’s wearing horizontal stripes.” Or you don’t, in which case people can say, “Wow, even in horizontal stripes she doesn’t look fat!” Really, sometimes it’s counterintuitive. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lap-ing-is-not-allowed/555122/44 "2010-10-01T03:37:01Z")
> [@lindsaybluth](#): > > That roll is a [muffin top](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muffin_top). See also, song from 30 Rock with the lyrics “my muffin top is all that / whole grain low fat / I know you wanna piece of that”. And it means you need to buy higher rise jeans. My JCrew “hipslung” jeans are their highest rise, and they are still 3/4" below my belly button. Sadly, the norm are ultra low rise, which are not flattering to anyone over a size 2.\ No, I meant the overstuffed sausage roll that the jeans turn your butt cheeks into, not the muffin top over the waistband. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lap-ing-is-not-allowed/555122/45 "2010-10-01T05:13:24Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > And for immediate release: black pants don’t make you look thinner. > > (Every damned fat woman I see wears black pants. :smack:) I don’t think that I even OWN a pair of black pants any more. I’ve got a pair of cobalt blue, and a pair of cocoa brown, but I didn’t replace the last pair of black pants that I threw away. I do think that wearing darker colors on the lower half of the body makes a person look not as bottom heavy. That is, black pants won’t make a fat person look as fatassed as a pair of white pants in the same cut and fabric. Won’t make him/her look THINNER, just not as fat. And it’s a very, very rare woman indeed who needs for her bottom half to look wider. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lap-ing-is-not-allowed/555122/46 "2010-10-01T07:05:18Z")
Leggings are really not going to make you look fatter. They might not be flattering, necessarily, but in general they have a slimming effect. If they’re the right kind of material and not too tight, they can even smooth out certain imperfections. By which I mean bulges. Now I usually wear them with a top that comes at least down to my hips. Or if the top is shorter, then with a long jacket. But I also wear them in the dance studio, where there are a lot of mirrors, with a shorter, tighter top. They look okay. They aren’t going to make me look like my years-ago sylphlike self, but they aren’t awful, either, and they’re a lot better, at least on me, than those wide-leg yoga pants. ---
**Author:** ![Claude\_Remains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@Claude\_Remains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claude_Remains)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lap-ing-is-not-allowed/555122/47 "2010-10-01T07:25:02Z")
> [@Bayesian\_Empirimancer](#): > > I’m noticing this annoying trend with most women around my age. I would be off to classes, and along the way, without fail, there would always be a random woman wearing leggings as pants (LAP). It’s gross and annoying, even more so if they are overweight. I once read an article that said you can tell alot about a man by his choice of dog. I fit the catagory of men who like mutts. I’m willing to accept a dog or a woman just the way they are, flaws or not, and that includes fashion. this is funny to me cause my daughter dresses our three dogs (all rescues) up with home made outfits. 😛 And our Italian Greyhound reminds me of a woman in leggings. ---
**Author:** ![clarkstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@clarkstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clarkstar)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lap-ing-is-not-allowed/555122/48 "2010-10-01T07:38:58Z")
people with real problems arent worried about others pants. consider yourself lucky that youre shallow ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lap-ing-is-not-allowed/555122/49 "2010-10-01T15:34:45Z")
> [@Mrs.Cake](#): > > Well, I can’t exactly wear them as hats. Sure you can. It makes you look like you have really long, floppy bunny ears. All the rage in nightclubs these days. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lap-ing-is-not-allowed/555122/50 "2010-10-01T15:43:12Z")
Depends on what’s more important in the woman’s life. Comfort or providing eye candy for strangers? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lap-ing-is-not-allowed/555122/51 "2010-10-01T23:17:30Z")
> [@clarkstar](#): > > people with real problems arent worried about others pants. consider yourself lucky that youre shallow I did that for a while, then I got bored and went to see what was new at [Poorly Dressed.](http://poorlydressed.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lap-ing-is-not-allowed/555122/52 "2010-10-02T00:47:35Z")
Well, I dunno. Whattaya gonna do? It can be a real trick going out in public without seeing something unpleasant these days. All the clothing looks too tight to me and way too few people who wear it are the svelte bodies it seems to have been designed for. In my state 25 % of our youth are obese and supposedly they are the least heavy of our nation’s youngsters. Amazing. The only way I can put a positive spin on it is to think that perhaps today’s young people are less self-conscious about their bodies than forty years ago. If true, that would be a good thing, no? ---
**Author:** ![Bayesian\_Empirimancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@Bayesian\_Empirimancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayesian_Empirimancer)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lap-ing-is-not-allowed/555122/53 "2010-10-02T23:57:29Z")
> [@Tethered\_Kite](#): > > Depends on what’s more important in the woman’s life. Comfort or providing eye candy for strangers? Women dress for each other, honestly. I specifically meant leggings as pants, matched with a short shirt. It ruins the mystery. ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lap-ing-is-not-allowed/555122/54 "2010-10-03T04:39:40Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > > [@lindsaybluth](#): > > > > That roll is a [muffin top](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muffin_top). > > No, I meant the overstuffed sausage roll that the jeans turn your butt cheeks into, not the muffin top over the waistband. 🙂 Ohhhhh. You’re absolutely right. It _certainly_ is a problem unto itself 😛 > [@clarkstar](#): > > people with real problems arent worried about others pants. consider yourself lucky that youre shallow they also dont care about grammar or punctuation either so their man ---
**Author:** ![clarkstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@clarkstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clarkstar)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lap-ing-is-not-allowed/555122/55 "2010-12-03T19:50:50Z")
> [@lindsaybluth](#): > > Ohhhhh. You’re absolutely right. It _certainly_ is a problem unto itself 😛 > > they also dont care about grammar or punctuation either so their man or spelling or making sense [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lap-ing-is-not-allowed/555122.md?page=2)