# Unbuttoning after a large dinner **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 13, 2017, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbuttoning-after-a-large-dinner/798738 "2017-10-13T17:06:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![laurieb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/51bf81/32.png) [@laurieb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/laurieb)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbuttoning-after-a-large-dinner/798738/1 "2017-10-13T17:06:23Z")
Do you do it? And do you consider it appropriate? I tend to do it after almost every dinner I eat. I tend to bloat up like a balloon when I eat large dinners. My mom HATES it when I do it. She says “it’s not a ladylike thing to do,” and she’d always scolds me for it whenever I’m eating with her somewhere. By contrast, my boyfriend could care less. He just shrugs. Is it that taboo, or not? ---
**Author:** ![BobBitchin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@BobBitchin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobBitchin)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbuttoning-after-a-large-dinner/798738/2 "2017-10-13T17:13:50Z")
I say if you’re SO is cool, you’re golden. Are we talking about at home meal? Do you do it at restaurants? ---
**Author:** ![laurieb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/51bf81/32.png) [@laurieb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/laurieb)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbuttoning-after-a-large-dinner/798738/3 "2017-10-13T17:18:34Z")
> [@BobBitchin](#): > > I say if you’re SO is cool, you’re golden. > > Are we talking about at home meal? Do you do it at restaurants? Both places. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbuttoning-after-a-large-dinner/798738/4 "2017-10-13T17:22:24Z")
It’s behavior akin to scratching your balls. At home, no holds barred. Out in public? I tend to not be aware of what’s going on around me, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone in a restaurant behave like this. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbuttoning-after-a-large-dinner/798738/5 "2017-10-13T17:27:21Z")
I can’t say it would bother me, either at home or in public. I tend to gravitate heavily towards informality in general. No point in being a slave to one’s culture I always say. ---
**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 13, 2017, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbuttoning-after-a-large-dinner/798738/6 "2017-10-13T17:30:58Z")
I can’t imagine eating so much in one meal that my pants wouldn’t fit. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbuttoning-after-a-large-dinner/798738/7 "2017-10-13T17:36:01Z")
Sounds like your pants don’t fit in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbuttoning-after-a-large-dinner/798738/8 "2017-10-13T17:37:11Z")
I would rank it up there with chewing with your mouth open. Sure, I have some friends who would do both. I make it a point not to eat with them. ---
**Author:** ![laurieb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/51bf81/32.png) [@laurieb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/laurieb)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbuttoning-after-a-large-dinner/798738/9 "2017-10-13T17:41:46Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > Sounds like your pants don’t fit in the first place. They do before I eat. Then there’s a little something called a “food baby”. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbuttoning-after-a-large-dinner/798738/10 "2017-10-13T18:12:00Z")
> [@laurieb](#): > > Do you do it? And do you consider it appropriate? Which button? Trousers definitely not; waistcoat yes, but one button only. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbuttoning-after-a-large-dinner/798738/11 "2017-10-13T18:17:34Z")
Yeah, exactly what are we talking about unbuttoning here, and how many buttons? ---
**Author:** ![laurieb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/51bf81/32.png) [@laurieb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/laurieb)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbuttoning-after-a-large-dinner/798738/12 "2017-10-13T18:26:48Z")
Unbuttoning of pants. I thought it was more of a common thing, guess I was wrong. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbuttoning-after-a-large-dinner/798738/13 "2017-10-13T18:33:20Z")
> [@laurieb](#): > > They do before I eat. > > Then there’s a little something called a “food baby”. That wretched term aside, it seems to me if one meal makes your pants so tight that you have to unbutton them, in public no less, that they’re either too tight to begin with, you’re consuming too much in one sitting or there’s a gastrointestinal issue (which I certainly hope is not the case :o ). Not to be mean, but yes, in my world at least, it is not done. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbuttoning-after-a-large-dinner/798738/14 "2017-10-13T18:38:12Z")
> [@laurieb](#): > > Then there’s a little something called a “food baby”. The unbuttoning is one thing, but your use of that term might cause my own food to rise back up. Your metaphor of choice involves eating a baby… ---
**Author:** ![laurieb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/51bf81/32.png) [@laurieb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/laurieb)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbuttoning-after-a-large-dinner/798738/15 "2017-10-13T18:44:52Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > The unbuttoning is one thing, but your use of that term might cause my own food to rise back up. Your metaphor of choice involves eating a baby… Funny. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbuttoning-after-a-large-dinner/798738/16 "2017-10-13T18:53:59Z")
Unbuttoning one’s pants? Totally unacceptable at a restaurant or other public place. Nor at someone else’s house or at your own house with guests over, unless you and they go back a long ways. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbuttoning-after-a-large-dinner/798738/17 "2017-10-13T18:57:18Z")
> [@laurieb](#): > > Unbuttoning of pants. > > I thought it was more of a common thing, guess I was wrong. I have never heard of this activity. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbuttoning-after-a-large-dinner/798738/18 "2017-10-13T18:58:24Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Unbuttoning one’s pants? Totally unacceptable at a restaurant or other public place. Nor at someone else’s house or at your own house with guests over, unless you and they go back a long ways. Perfectly said. How I yearn for the days of manners. ---
**Author:** ![Sterling\_Archer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Sterling\_Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterling_Archer)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbuttoning-after-a-large-dinner/798738/19 "2017-10-13T18:59:43Z")
You’re eating too much, then. It’s gross behavior anywhere, including at home. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbuttoning-after-a-large-dinner/798738/20 "2017-10-13T19:38:39Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > I have never heard of this activity. It’s a stereotype post-Thanksgiving meal behavior. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unbuttoning-after-a-large-dinner/798738.md?page=2)