# What is the most antiquated common custom we still use? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 1, 2014, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-antiquated-common-custom-we-still-use/703191 "2014-11-01T01:46:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-antiquated-common-custom-we-still-use/703191/61 "2014-11-06T16:10:22Z")
I think it’s interesting that men are so opposed to the tie! I mean, could it be more obvious that the only people with the power to change this, are men? I don’t think so. If it’s outlived it’s actual ‘need’, by a hundred years, it’s totally on them. I’ve always found it amusing when men talk about women as slaves to fashion, when it’s always seemed the reverse to me. After all, you don’t see women still walking around in bustles! ---
**Author:** ![Clawdio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d07c76/32.png) [@Clawdio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clawdio)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-antiquated-common-custom-we-still-use/703191/62 "2014-11-06T16:12:13Z")
I agree with burying the dead and cemetaries in general. Everytime I see a cemetary i think: “That would make a really great park if not for all the headstones”. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-antiquated-common-custom-we-still-use/703191/63 "2014-11-06T16:22:32Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Blessing someone after they sneeze. What other bodily functions do we publicly draw attention to by invoking the protection of a deity? Not the protection of a deity but if someone farts you might say “God damn your smelly ass”. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-antiquated-common-custom-we-still-use/703191/64 "2014-11-07T01:35:36Z")
> [@sunstone](#): > > I nominate the tie. Basically wrapping a bit of cloth around the neck, but for what purpose? > > I note with interest that many of us who are employed in the newer technologies no longer wear ties. That most conservative of all ventures, banking, still wear ties, but so do car salesmen and (usually) real estate salesmen, lawyers and politicians. I don’t think it’s older than the endearing opening of written correspondence, though. I vaguely remember someone telling me it was one of those inventions of Napoleon’s when he was trying to build his empire. It was adopted to cover the gaps between buttons on a button-down shirt – kind of like a miniature dickey\* – for his officers to wear in uniform. I dunno if that tale is true but, if it is, that would be the early 1800’s and “Dear \_\_\_” in writing was around for a long time already. –G! \*No, not a tiny phallus – you wouldn’t hang that around your neck! One of [these](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickey_%28garment%29)! ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-antiquated-common-custom-we-still-use/703191/65 "2014-11-07T06:19:30Z")
> [@Namkcalb](#): > > I think the biggest entrenched custom in much of the world is driving on the right. > > Most people are right-handed, and if they drove on the left, they’d be able to keep their dominant hand on the wheel at all times. Comparing like for like, countries that drive on the left have far fewer accidents. Is it a fact that left-handed drivers are in fewer accidents? Just curious. ETA: Ties are hot. I imagine this antiquated custom won’t die until women stop finding them hot. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-antiquated-common-custom-we-still-use/703191/66 "2014-11-07T07:31:10Z")
China drives on the right, Hong Kong and Macau on the left. I prefer wearing a tie to having an open-necked shirt. Sometimes the formality is suitable to the environment. I also like a firm handshake, a limp-wristed, half-hearted, disinterested clutch really says a lot about the other person. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-antiquated-common-custom-we-still-use/703191/67 "2014-11-07T07:36:23Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-antiquated-common-custom-we-still-use/703191/68 "2014-11-08T04:38:12Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Blessing someone after they sneeze. What other bodily functions do we publicly draw attention to by invoking the protection of a deity? This is the first thing I thought of when opening this thread. I **HATE** it. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-antiquated-common-custom-we-still-use/703191/69 "2014-11-08T04:46:01Z")
> [@sunstone](#): > > I nominate the tie. Basically wrapping a bit of cloth around the neck, but for what purpose? Since pantyhose are no longer socially required when a woman wears a skirt, men can ditch the tie as far as I’m concerned. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-antiquated-common-custom-we-still-use/703191/70 "2014-11-08T05:24:02Z")
How about the idea of “resting” on the seventh day? At least it’s a prime number, but I personally wouldn’t mind “resting” every four or five days instead. For another thing, why three meals a day? If someone likes to eat a meal every hour, or just once a day, they’d be considered quite strange and unusual. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-antiquated-common-custom-we-still-use/703191/71 "2014-11-08T16:15:38Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > Which brings up another antiquated custom – women changing their last name when they get married. If women changing their title from Miss to Mrs to indicate marital status is antiquated, changing their name to indicate who they are married to (and obliterating indication of who their parents are) certainly is. > [@Quartz](#): > > The BBC have just done an [article](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29804450) on that very subject. More on that subject, in the “to see ourselves as others see us” department, this Italian site on surnames reveals to its readers the [curious customs of those Americans](http://www.cognomix.it/top100_cognomi_usa.php), to wit: “In the United States it is customary for a woman to change her own surname to her husband’s after marriage and to pass on the father’s surname to the children.” “In only **seven** American states is it permitted for a man to **replace his own surname with that of his wife** without going through a laborious and costly legal process…” (How many of you knew that? I didn’t. Only musician Jack White of the White Stripes comes to mind.) The same site has a poll on whether people should be able to choose to name the children with their mother’s surname. A majority of _both_ men and women respondents in Italy supports the idea! > [@JohnGalt](#): > > How about the idea of “resting” on the seventh day? At least it’s a prime number, but I personally wouldn’t mind “resting” every four or five days instead. > > For another thing, why three meals a day? If someone likes to eat a meal every hour, or just once a day, they’d be considered quite strange and unusual. OK, you made me think of my own. I find it peculiar that people are expected to spend 8 solid hours asleep followed by 16 solid hours awake. My body, if not required to show up at work at a specific time, naturally settles into its own pattern of 8 hours awake followed by 4 hours asleep, day and night. Seems to me the antiquated custom of keeping yourself asleep for 8 hours and awake for 16 is left over from when nights were lit only by fire. With electric lighting (and internet, heh) so widespread in so much of the world now, nothing holds us to the unnatural rhythm of long blocks of uninterrupted sleep and waking except senseless custom. ---
**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:** [November 9, 2014, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-antiquated-common-custom-we-still-use/703191/72 "2014-11-09T03:47:25Z")
As for blessing someone when they sneeze, I’ve gotten out of that habit. Early on in Thailand, I asked the Thais what they say when someone sneezes, and they looked at me like I was from Mars. “Why the frig would we say anything?” was the general consensus. Now I let sneezes go unremarked, but some newbie farangs (Westerners) seem to look at me strange. They must think I want them dead. As for driving on the left, Thailand drives on the left. Cambodia _used_ to drive on the left, but in a bid to cut down on the number of stolen cars being taken into Cambodia from Thailand, the government there decreed a switch to right-side driving. But who can afford to buy a new car in Cambodia? So now you have all these right-hand drive cars plying the right side of the roads. Once we hired a taxi to drive us from Poipet, on the border with Thailand, to Siem Reap, near Angkor Wat. Passing was pretty hairy, I’ll tell ya, especially when we were behind a large vehicle of some sort. The driver would edge over until he was able to see if anything was coming! It was a 2-1/2 ride, and after Sisophon, about halfway, the “highway” was dirt (I think it’s all paved now), so the dust being kicked up made it even harder to see. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-antiquated-common-custom-we-still-use/703191/73 "2014-11-09T06:05:10Z")
First off, I’ma little taken back by the “Dear” thing. I’ve never once had a coworker address me that way in an email. I can’t remember what I was watching the other day, but there was this guy who was captain of a ship that sank. He was explaining how it all went down, he mentioned that as soon as he realized he wasn’t going to be able to save the ship, he instructed the crew to evacuate the the passengers. He specifically told them “Women and children first!” I was a little surprised by that. Also, opening doors for women. Especially car doors. It made sense when you needed the key to open the door, but these days with remote access, it doesn’t make sense to do it like that anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Nefario](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/59ef9b/32.png) [@Nefario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nefario)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-antiquated-common-custom-we-still-use/703191/74 "2014-11-09T12:17:55Z")
The most antiquated? The tie - although it’s fundamental part of many “costumes” we consider important or necessary I still hate them and most situations where a tie is expected. Shaving - not antiquated - my face feels cleaner and I really notice scratchiness on my collar and in touching my face if I don’t shave about every 24 hours. NEW ONE! Women shaving - why?? Body hair is not “nasty” and I think unshaven legs are a mild turn-on and maybe a sign of self confidence and independent thought. Or - why not shave their faces? Many women have a bit of visible fuzz if one gets close enough. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-antiquated-common-custom-we-still-use/703191/75 "2014-11-09T19:12:14Z")
> [@Namkcalb](#): > > Most people are right-handed, and if they drove on the left, they’d be able to keep their dominant hand on the wheel at all times. Comparing like for like, countries that drive on the left have far fewer accidents. If I were driving on the left, then it would be my right elbow that was resting on the door. And since I’m right-handed, it would still be my right hand holding my coffee cup. So driving on the left would make it extremely unlikely that I would have my dominant hand on the wheel. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-antiquated-common-custom-we-still-use/703191/76 "2014-11-09T19:29:21Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > OK, you made me think of my own. I find it peculiar that people are expected to spend 8 solid hours asleep followed by 16 solid hours awake. My body, if not required to show up at work at a specific time, naturally settles into its own pattern of 8 hours awake followed by 4 hours asleep, day and night. > > Seems to me the antiquated custom of keeping yourself asleep for 8 hours and awake for 16 is left over from when nights were lit only by fire. With electric lighting (and internet, heh) so widespread in so much of the world now, nothing holds us to the unnatural rhythm of long blocks of uninterrupted sleep and waking except senseless custom. Before electric lights, it was normal to go to bed around sunset, sleep for a few hours, be awake for two or three hours, and then sleep again until around sunrise (“[segmented sleep](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segmented_sleep)”). The custom of staying up after dark and then getting all of one’s sleep in one block came after the invention of electric lights. ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-antiquated-common-custom-we-still-use/703191/77 "2014-11-09T21:38:25Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Is it a fact that left-handed drivers are in fewer accidents? Counterintuitively not, in almost every country, LWD or RWD, they are involved in more car accidents. > [@](#): > > ETA: Ties are hot. I imagine this antiquated custom won’t die until women stop finding them hot. [This blogger agrees with you.](http://thai-hunk.blogspot.com.au/) (mildly NSW) > [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Cambodia _used_ to drive on the left, but in a bid to cut down on the number of stolen cars being taken into Cambodia from Thailand, the government there decreed a switch to right-side driving. Ergh… and I thought Tony Abbott’s policies were stupid. :smack: :smack: :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-antiquated-common-custom-we-still-use/703191/78 "2014-11-09T21:47:24Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I don’t think your link shows what you think it does. To me, “pretty much divided” means like 50-50 each way. The reality is, most of the world drive the “proper” way. It’s just current and former UK peoples, plus a few outliers, that drive on the right. Even China drives on the left. But not Hong Kong. “A few outliers”? The countries that drive on the left include the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th and 10th largest countries in the world, by population (i.e., India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Japan). And two of those are not “former UK peoples” in any way. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-antiquated-common-custom-we-still-use/703191/79 "2014-11-10T09:10:55Z")
Circumcision. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-antiquated-common-custom-we-still-use/703191/80 "2014-11-10T17:43:06Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Circumcision. Not necessarily. The [Mayo Clinic](http://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/circumcision/basics/why-its-done/prc-20013585) says > [@](#): > > The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says the benefits of circumcision outweigh the risks. However, the AAP doesn’t recommend routine circumcision for all male newborns. The AAP leaves the circumcision decision up to parents — and supports use of anesthetics for infants who have the procedure. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-antiquated-common-custom-we-still-use/703191.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-antiquated-common-custom-we-still-use/703191.md?page=5)