why did we stop wearing monocle’s?
Probably their impracticality. I doubt many Dopers have ever worn one; I haven’t.
But monocles certainly look uncomfortable, and give the impression that they fall out easily. I also wonder how many people have sight anomalies in just one eye.
And from an optician’s point of view, why sell one lens, when with a pair of specs, you can sell two, plus the frame?
They might make a comeback. Pince nez were a thing of the past until The Matrix revived them.
I enjoy this site alot and thats the only question I could think of that would be worth writting LOL…
When we stopped smoking cigars and running industrial monopolies. 
When I was first diagnosed as nearsighted, I only needed correction in one eye. So the doc made me a pair of glasses with one corrective lens and one plain glass lens.
Glasses are much more practical for their ease of use.
Plus, 9-year-olds look funny wearing monocles.
Not if they do it with conviction.
Whaddaya mean, “we”?
:: Inserts monocle, twirls mustache ::
How do you wear a monocle? I have never understood this.
Hmm. There was a link off the pince-nez page. Monocles are held in by squinting? Yike.
Britain’s most famous monocle wearer, Patrick Moore, bemoans the end of an era.
This site claims that monocles fell out of fashion because they were worn by German generals in WWI. I’d also point out that the first usable contact lenses came about in the late ‘40s, which was probably the death blow for the good ol’ monocle.
(An aside: IIRC, Leonardo DaVinci is credited for first envisioning the contact lense back in the 16th century)
To keep a monocle in place, you have to squeeze it with your eyebrow and cheek muscles. I can imagine that this would soon get uncomfortable and, perhaps eventually, extremely painful. Why would you intentionally subject yourself to that degree of pain?
Many in my generation grew up with Col. Klink as the primary, if not sole, monacle wearer we could name. Surprisingly, few of us seem to have wanted to emulate him in that way.
I grew up thinking Rich Uncle Pennybags sported the monocle. I have been unable to verify this.
Two famous monocle wearers are the Monopoly guy and the Planter’s Peanut man.
The monocle went out of fashion (if it ever was) because wearing it makes one look pretentious. It makes a statement that you are ‘old money’, aristocratic and the like. And particularly if you are a elderly gentelman in a suit, people might poke fun at you for looking like the Monopoly guy.
The fact that many wearers frequently drop their monocle when scandalized many have something to do with its decline.
Rich Uncle Pennybags IS the Monopoly Guy. I looked a few Community Chest cards today and he seemed monocle-less. Apparently, I was mistaken
It is my understanding that wearing a monocle will give you a deep impression under your eye, like the way the nosepads on glasses put little dents on your face–only much much worse.
But the upshot is that you will be a billionaire tycoon.
I guess it would depend on whether or not I was a German officer.