# "Wearing hair" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 4, 2011, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wearing-hair/573460 "2011-03-04T07:14:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CheeseDonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@CheeseDonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheeseDonkey)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wearing-hair/573460/1 "2011-03-04T07:14:16Z")
Where did the phrase “wearing hair” come from? Such as “I’m wearing my hair differently today.” And why do people say that to begin with? We don’t say “I’m wearing my arms differently” or “I’m wearing my face differently.” ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wearing-hair/573460/2 "2011-03-04T07:52:15Z")
:dubious: What do you want them to say? Hair isn’t like a limb, it’s able to be positioned, coloured and styled. IOW it can be worn. And people have been referring to the wearing of faces since Shakespeare at least. ---
**Author:** ![CheeseDonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@CheeseDonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheeseDonkey)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wearing-hair/573460/3 "2011-03-04T07:53:24Z")
I have never heard someone reference their face as being “worn.” I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, I’ve just never heard it. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wearing-hair/573460/4 "2011-03-04T09:18:05Z")
> [@CheeseDonkey](#): > > I have never heard someone reference their face as being “worn.” I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, I’ve just never heard it. Allow me to fix this for you: [75,000,000 Google hits for “wore a \* face”.](http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=mozclient&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&q=%22wore+a+*+face) Now, admittedly, lots of these are false positives (such as “wore a face mask” or “wore a veil over his face”). But among those results you will also see lots of instances of “wore a gloomy face”, “wore a brave face”, “wore a painted face”, “wore a poker face”, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wearing-hair/573460/5 "2011-03-04T09:26:32Z")
> [@CheeseDonkey](#): > > I have never heard someone reference their face as being “worn.” I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, I’ve just never heard it. Never mind Shakespeare, or the 75 million references that psychonaut provided, are you telling me that in your entire life you have never heard “Eleanor Rigby” or “Put on a Happy Face”? I am astonished. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wearing-hair/573460/6 "2011-03-04T12:35:44Z")
Put on a happy face. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![CheeseDonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@CheeseDonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheeseDonkey)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wearing-hair/573460/7 "2011-03-04T19:23:36Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > Never mind Shakespeare, or the 75 million references that psychonaut provided, are you telling me that in your entire life you have never heard “Eleanor Rigby” or “Put on a Happy Face”? > > I am astonished. Unfortunately, I really, really don’t like the Beatles, so I don’t listen to their music. Bear with me, I wrote that question at 2:00 in the morning. Tired, groggy, I was wearing an exhausted face.