# What the heck is a “flannel”? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 27, 2021, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-flannel/933905 "2021-02-27T17:03:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2021, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-flannel/933905/1 "2021-02-27T17:03:21Z")
I’ve heard this term a couple of times but yesterday it was used towards me. Guys were mis-behaving in public and I politely asked them to tone it down a bit. One of them said to me, “calm down flannel”. It get that it’s probably derogatory but I don’t get the reference. Has anyone else heard of this term? ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2021, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-flannel/933905/2 "2021-02-27T17:11:26Z")
Might be a gen-x marker, but I think flannel shirts started with the baby boomers. Anyway, probably an age thing. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2021, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-flannel/933905/3 "2021-02-27T17:20:53Z")
Did Tim Allen on Home improvement refer to his cohort that way? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2021, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-flannel/933905/4 "2021-02-27T17:40:43Z")
Don’t know whether this could be relevant at all, but in Britain, “flannel” is used to mean what we call a “washcloth.” ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2021, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-flannel/933905/5 "2021-02-27T19:00:16Z")
UrbanDictionary has a couple of definitions that might apply: > 1. a man who may be seen as being a bit pathetic or boring. > > sam stop being a flannel and come out tonight! > > 1. Flannel, a word to describe a person or people who are too opinionated > > The feminists are Flanneled about over-fucking-killing the male gender ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2021, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-flannel/933905/6 "2021-02-28T09:11:31Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Don’t know whether this could be relevant at all, but in Britain, “flannel” is used to mean what we call a “washcloth.” Ah, that explains “Tempted”! [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/WXKfFeb2ua0/maxresdefault.jpg "Tempted") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXKfFeb2ua0) ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2021, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-flannel/933905/7 "2021-02-28T09:53:40Z")
Also in the UK “flannel” might be used to refer to someone waffling on or being over-elaborate in their speech or just generally talking nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2021, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-flannel/933905/8 "2021-02-28T12:10:59Z")
I’ve heard it years ago in the feminist/lesbian community to refer to someone who was neither butch nor femme, but sort of going for an androgynous look-- maybe not even deliberately, but that was the end result. I think it had to do with the fact that, at the time, flannel shirts were still pretty male, but lots of women bought clothes in the men’s section, with the end result not necessarily being that they looked masculine, let alone butch. I’m not sure the word is still used this way anymore. I can see it migrating to the mainstream to mean someone who likes to keep things low-key, and doesn’t like to be noticed, because I recall it sometimes used sort of in this way among women-- kind of the implication that someone who was overly androgynous was trying to blend into the background. So it’s possible the OP’s acquaintances were chiding him for being unwilling to do something that would call attention to the group. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2021, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-flannel/933905/9 "2021-02-28T13:19:43Z")
The only way I’ve ever seen “flannel” as a count noun is for a shirt. As in, I’m wearing a flannel right now. I would presume that, in reference to a person, it would mean “the sort of person who wears flannels”, but I don’t know what the implication would be of what sort of person that is. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2021, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-flannel/933905/10 "2021-02-28T13:48:53Z")
I’d say it was a reference to the grunge period of the late 80s and early 90s and probably refers to someone whose formative years were 30 years ago. Most likely a disparaging remark about your age. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2021, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-flannel/933905/11 "2021-02-28T17:55:57Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Did Tim Allen on Home improvement refer to his cohort that way? I don’t think so, Tim. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2021, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-flannel/933905/12 "2021-03-01T21:41:55Z")
That’s probably it. Getting old… sigh. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2021, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-flannel/933905/13 "2021-03-06T16:54:58Z")
If it’s an age reference, it’s kind of obscure and ambiguous. Like was the OP dressed like circa 1992 Eddie Vedder or like Michael Keaton a month after loosing his job in Mr Mom or something? > [@Chronos](#): > > I would presume that, in reference to a person, it would mean “the sort of person who wears flannels”, but I don’t know what the implication would be of what sort of person that is. Unless in the context of being an “outdoorsman”, wearing “flannel” (specifically plaid/tartan flannel shirts) has sort of come to symbolize someone who is casual to the point of not caring. Usually in a “depressed” or “quit life” kind of way, as opposed to being “too cool for school”. Part of the reason the “slacker/grunge” look was so popular in the early 90s. It portrayed this air of disaffected young people who didn’t give a crap.