# When did Americans start wearing short pants?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-americans-start-wearing-short-pants/283562>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 7, 2005, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-americans-start-wearing-short-pants/283562 "2005-01-07T14:56:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rex_fenestrarum/32/7265_2.png) [@Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rex_Fenestrarum)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-americans-start-wearing-short-pants/283562/21 "2005-01-08T02:14:47Z")

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> [@Ezstrete](#):
>
> Please do--------and while you’re at it also tell them that style was not the question to begin with------that’s a phenom which owes it’s existance to women in genera; and to the societal demands which force male adherence.

Hey pal, I’m not the one that started with the _non-sequitur_ thread crapping… you did. And actually, the OP _is_ about style… or did you become lost in your own adequatulence?

_/me runs off to Hollywood to tell period costume desigers that they’re wrong… because **Ezstrete** says so._

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**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-americans-start-wearing-short-pants/283562/22 "2005-01-08T04:56:00Z")

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> [@ginman999](#):
>
> Was it hippies in the late 1960’s?

> [@galen](#):
>
> I think it began with the general relaxation of the old rules in the late '60’s and early '70’s. The so-called hippie era.

Since when are hippies associated with short pants? Bell bottoms, yes; short pants, not so much.

I blame Michael Jordan for the baggy, knee-length shorts fad of the last decade or so. Him, or maybe Richard Nixon in the 70’s, walking on the beach in wingtips and his big ol’ shorts.

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