# Should City Mayors Be Allowed To Wear Shorts? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 22, 2020, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-city-mayors-be-allowed-to-wear-shorts/916049 "2020-07-22T21:32:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2020, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-city-mayors-be-allowed-to-wear-shorts/916049/41 "2020-07-26T06:12:13Z")
That’s not a tie. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2020, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-city-mayors-be-allowed-to-wear-shorts/916049/42 "2020-07-27T04:33:09Z")
Sounds like the writer from the paper and Carmine Lupertazzi from The Sopranos have a lot in common. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Y1vGSdNVRko/maxresdefault.jpg "Carmine, A Don Doesn't Wear Shorts - The Sopranos HD") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1vGSdNVRko) ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2020, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-city-mayors-be-allowed-to-wear-shorts/916049/43 "2020-07-30T18:22:47Z")
> **[Boston Mayor Marty Walsh Takes A Stand -- For Cargo Shorts](https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/cargo-shorts-marty-walsh-boston-mayor-wall-street-journal/)** > > The Internet has officially declared men's cargo shorts to be out of style, but don't tell Marty Walsh that. > **[Mayor sports shorts to highlight city’s plight](https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna10363722)** > > Like many of his constituents, the mayor of Bay St. Louis lost everything but the clothes he was wearing when Hurricane Katrina flattened Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. Eddie Favre turned his misfortune into a vow: He’s not shedding his Bermuda shorts... But apparently frowned upon in Europe > **[Italy restaurant expels mayor for wearing shorts](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40889696)** > > The mayor of Viareggio beach resort says nobody had told him about the dress code. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2020, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-city-mayors-be-allowed-to-wear-shorts/916049/44 "2020-07-30T21:42:38Z")
> [@Max\_S](#): > > Shorts aren’t professional This is very much a cultural thing. Bermuda shorts are considered perfectly professional in (surprise) Bermuda. British and other Commonwealth military uniforms used to include shorts in warmer climes. (AIUI, some navies still do it, but armies have stopped.) And cultural things can be changed if the culture at large decides that they should change, for whatever reason. (I, for one, think this is an element that should change.) ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-city-mayors-be-allowed-to-wear-shorts/916049/45 "2020-07-31T03:22:31Z")
> [@Max\_S](#): > > In the latter case, I can say “at least he/she dresses like a mayor”. And in the former case, others can say “he/she doesn’t dress the part”, and I would be ashamed by association. You care enough about what others say about someone who isn’t you that you feel shamed? I don’t understand. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-city-mayors-be-allowed-to-wear-shorts/916049/46 "2020-07-31T03:26:34Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > with) > > (and, please, no kilts) No, kilts. Please, kilts. All the time, every time. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-city-mayors-be-allowed-to-wear-shorts/916049/47 "2020-07-31T21:14:02Z")
It’s a matter of pride and association. I and my neighbors bear collective responsibility for our choice of mayor. It’s _our_ mayor out there, and his or her actions reflect upon _our city_. I’ll do my best to give some comparable situations… It’s like if you have a kid, and the kid acts out in public. That reflects poorly on you, as a parent. A mix of complicated emotions are involved, one of which (hopefully not the overriding one) may be the shame of being associated with the kid at that very instant. Kids are tricky. Let’s switch out the kid with a friend. The friend acts out in public. Acquantences of yours might say, “that friend of yours doesn’t know how to behave” maybe with a subtext of “you don’t know how to pick friends”. The emotion I am referring to is the shame of being associated with your friend’s poor behavior. Or let’s say you are a fan of your local sports team, and the team sucks, but this year the team chose a really ugly uniform. In previous years you could say “at least they look respectable”, but with the new uniforms, they don’t. If you still don’t understand what I mean, I’m probably not up to the job of explaining it. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-city-mayors-be-allowed-to-wear-shorts/916049/48 "2020-07-31T22:58:02Z")
Mayors can’t wear shorts, because dignity? JFK’s reputation survived being photographed in swim trunks, and even Dick Nixon didn’t look bad in them. [![](http://i.pinimg.com/originals/e8/33/4e/e8334e4da950f4d4c9a69721f0aca7f6.jpg) ](http://i.pinimg.com/originals/e8/33/4e/e8334e4da950f4d4c9a69721f0aca7f6.jpg) [![](https://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/28488/slide_28488_288616_huge.jpg) ](https://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/28488/slide_28488_288616_huge.jpg) Now if we’re talking about Joe Biden and Donald Trump flaunting their legs in swimming attire, get out the brain bleach. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2020, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-city-mayors-be-allowed-to-wear-shorts/916049/49 "2020-08-02T05:18:22Z")
Remember Paul Tsongas in a Speedo? ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2020, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-city-mayors-be-allowed-to-wear-shorts/916049/50 "2020-08-02T07:17:56Z")
You’re not the mayor because you wear trousers. You’re the mayor because you wear a giant gold chain. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2020, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-city-mayors-be-allowed-to-wear-shorts/916049/51 "2020-08-02T07:28:11Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Now if we’re talking about Joe Biden and Donald Trump flaunting their legs in swimming attire, get out the brain bleach. Aaaauuughhh! Why would you do that? I thought we were friends! ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2020, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-city-mayors-be-allowed-to-wear-shorts/916049/52 "2020-08-02T12:46:25Z")
> [@Max\_S](#): > > I would be slightly more ashamed of an incompetent mayor that projects an unprofessional image Remember, this is Toronto. We have already suffered through Rob Ford. Anything John Tory (is that a name for politics or what?) does is a cake walk in comparison. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-city-mayors-be-allowed-to-wear-shorts/916049.md?page=2)