# What's the deal with all of those hubcaps leaning up agianst telephone poles? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 13, 2022, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-all-of-those-hubcaps-leaning-up-agianst-telephone-poles/971521 "2022-09-13T22:59:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-all-of-those-hubcaps-leaning-up-agianst-telephone-poles/971521/41 "2022-09-15T16:12:37Z")
I heard an urban legend that drug dealers could be located near these “shoes on high.” I never believed it, though - it’s too dumb. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-all-of-those-hubcaps-leaning-up-agianst-telephone-poles/971521/42 "2022-09-15T16:21:03Z")
The classic example for me is when you learn a new word and see that word “everywhere” for awhile. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-all-of-those-hubcaps-leaning-up-agianst-telephone-poles/971521/43 "2022-09-15T16:31:09Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > The classic example for me is when you learn a new word and see that word “everywhere” for awhile Yes, like how I will now be seeing the term “Baader-Meinhof Effect” everywhere 😄 In fact, “BME” got its name from someone who first heard of the “Baader-Meinhof Group” (completely different meaning) and then starting noticing references to it everywhere. So if I start seeing it, it’ll be a meta-frequency illusion. > The name “Baader–Meinhof phenomenon” was derived from a particular instance of frequency illusion in which the [Baader–Meinhof Group](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baader%E2%80%93Meinhof_Group) was mentioned.[[6]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_illusion#cite_note-6) In this instance, it was noticed by a man named Terry Mullen, who in 1994 wrote a letter to a newspaper column in which he mentioned that he had first heard of the Baader–Meinhof Group, and shortly thereafter coincidentally came across the term from another source. After the story was published, various readers submitted letters detailing their own experiences of similar events, and the name “Baader–Meinhof phenomenon” was coined as a result. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-all-of-those-hubcaps-leaning-up-agianst-telephone-poles/971521/44 "2022-09-15T16:35:02Z")
Undoubtedly you will. It comes up every so often on SDMB threads, and is probably where I first learned it a decade or more ago. It was just used not two weeks ago in another thread: > [@Unlikely coincidences you have experienced](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unlikely-coincidences-you-have-experienced/970790/20): > > That’s a classic case of the Baader-Meinhoff effect aka frequency illusion. It’s a phenomenon I’ve often encountered, especially since I’ve been following the Dope. Of course I first heard of that effect here too. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-all-of-those-hubcaps-leaning-up-agianst-telephone-poles/971521/45 "2022-09-15T16:40:17Z")
> [@Michael\_Varn](#): > > I can see no logical reason why you would find sneakers hanging over a powerline. Similarly, there’s no logical reason to throw your shoes up into the branches of a tree, but there are many [“shoe trees”](https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/29064) to be found on the back roads of America. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-all-of-those-hubcaps-leaning-up-agianst-telephone-poles/971521/46 "2022-09-15T16:44:54Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > There’s your answer. Some people, for whatever reason, think it’s cool. Kids do it after high school graduation around here. I guess it’s a tradition. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-all-of-those-hubcaps-leaning-up-agianst-telephone-poles/971521/47 "2022-09-15T16:57:55Z")
Does graduation mean that you don’t need shoes anymore? Anyway, I always thought that was the work of bullies. Take a victim’s shoes and toss them up where they can’t get them back. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-all-of-those-hubcaps-leaning-up-agianst-telephone-poles/971521/48 "2022-09-15T17:15:52Z")
> [@Rebo](#): > > Lug nut covers The link didn’t work, but whatever. I own 22 cars, most of them have at least 2 sets of wheels (snow tires and summer) and mount my own tires by hand, and have never heard of such a thing. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-all-of-those-hubcaps-leaning-up-agianst-telephone-poles/971521/49 "2022-09-15T17:25:59Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Undoubtedly you will. It comes up every so often on SDMB threads, and is probably where I first learned it a decade or more ago. Y’know the name did sound familiar, and I think it’s one of the things I learned and knew once, but since forgot. At my age there’s more of that than what I still remember … 🙄 ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-all-of-those-hubcaps-leaning-up-agianst-telephone-poles/971521/50 "2022-09-15T18:04:06Z")
How about this link? [https://www.walmart.com/ip/60-Rounded-Chrome-Lug-Nut-Covers-For-11-16-Lug-Nuts/746519795?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=8056](https://www.walmart.com/ip/60-Rounded-Chrome-Lug-Nut-Covers-For-11-16-Lug-Nuts/746519795?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=8056) ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-all-of-those-hubcaps-leaning-up-agianst-telephone-poles/971521/51 "2022-09-15T18:54:58Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > It’s not any different than putting a found glove or hat on a fence post. I’ve seen that … along with a sign which said “Did you have a hand in this ?” ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-all-of-those-hubcaps-leaning-up-agianst-telephone-poles/971521/52 "2022-09-15T20:20:08Z")
Thou hast ignorance fought. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-all-of-those-hubcaps-leaning-up-agianst-telephone-poles/971521/53 "2022-09-15T20:35:00Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > You must have a power that I lack. If a street light has ever gone off when I passed, it didn’t register. I’ve never noticed this. > > But, it appears to be a real thing: Not really. [The master covered it in 1994.](https://www.straightdope.com/21342130/can-some-people-extinguish-streetlamps-by-means-of-their-bodily-emanations) I can’t believe this has been here 2 days without someone actually quoting Cecil. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Varn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michael_varn/32/14411_2.png) [@Michael\_Varn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Varn)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-all-of-those-hubcaps-leaning-up-agianst-telephone-poles/971521/54 "2022-09-15T22:01:35Z")
If you are missing a bolt cap, there is no risk of your tire falling off as long as the nuts and bolts are tightly secured. The purpose of the bolt cap is to protect the top of the bolt from rust and corrosion. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-all-of-those-hubcaps-leaning-up-agianst-telephone-poles/971521/55 "2022-09-15T22:15:54Z")
I also put bolt caps/lugnut covers on my last car. What had happened was that I had crappy plastic hubcaps that had been damaged, and I just removed them. The bare wheels looked ugly, so I bought some covers for the bolts that looked nice (they were the same color as the car paint), and they were cheap and snapped on. (Actually, they were rubber so slipped on even easier than you’d think.) I thought it looked better afterward anyway. It was easier and cheaper than buying new hubcaps. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-all-of-those-hubcaps-leaning-up-agianst-telephone-poles/971521/56 "2022-09-15T22:22:47Z")
Back when I was in junior high (late sixties) the sneakers I’d see hanging from wires were gym shoes, sometimes with gym socks and maybe more stuffed into them. I say ‘maybe more’ because we had to take our gym uniforms home every week to be washed and guys tended to stuff their uniforms into their gym shoes, tie the laces together, and throw one shoe over a shoulder to make toting them home easier. (This was long before taking backpacks to school was a regular thing.) If you wanted to wire someone’s shoes, they were already tied together and just hanging on their shoulder. I’ve always wondered if the tradition started with guys larking around as they walked home on Fridays, or if I was mostly walking to and from school, so that’s the kind of shoes I was more likely to see. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-all-of-those-hubcaps-leaning-up-agianst-telephone-poles/971521/57 "2022-09-16T16:42:34Z")
> [@Michael\_Varn](#): > > Now, the issue with the hubcaps is not a recent phenomenon, because hubcaps have, for the most part, been obsolete for some time. Most modern cars have steel rims that attach directly to the tire. These sentences don’t make sense to me. Cars have always had steel or aluminum rims that attach directly to the tires. Hub cap is an old term. It meant a rounded chrome cap that just covered the hub and possibly the lug nuts. Are these things you see leaning against the poles “wheel covers”? A wheel cover is a plastic insert fully as large as the steel wheel behind it, usually styled to look like a more expensive alloy wheel. Found on base model cars. They can easily fly off although modern ones are much better then earlier versions. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-all-of-those-hubcaps-leaning-up-agianst-telephone-poles/971521/58 "2022-09-16T16:56:11Z")
Mr VOW’s first overseas tour was Germany. There was a tree next to the barracks, and it was known as the Shortimer’s Tree. Before leaving the post to catch the plane in Frankfurt to return to The World, it was traditional for the departee to tie the bootlaces together, then throw his boots up in the tree. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2022, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-all-of-those-hubcaps-leaning-up-agianst-telephone-poles/971521/59 "2022-09-17T03:09:18Z")
Yes, we threw our gym sneakers onto the wires at the end of the school year. I’m sure people do it for other reasons. Those reasons will mostly have to do with the coincidence of a pair of shoes not on someone’s feet and nearby power lines. After that what does it matter why? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2022, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-all-of-those-hubcaps-leaning-up-agianst-telephone-poles/971521/60 "2022-09-18T11:15:40Z")
In addition, I’m going to suggest that coincidence with recreational substances also plays a large role. And once said substances are involved, almost all appeals to logic lose their appeal. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-all-of-those-hubcaps-leaning-up-agianst-telephone-poles/971521.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-all-of-those-hubcaps-leaning-up-agianst-telephone-poles/971521.md?page=4)