# why did we stop wearing monocle's? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 16, 2005, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-stop-wearing-monocles/304063 "2005-05-16T14:04:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wez\_nilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wez\_nilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wez_nilez)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-stop-wearing-monocles/304063/1 "2005-05-16T14:04:00Z")
why did we stop wearing monocle’s? ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-stop-wearing-monocles/304063/2 "2005-05-16T14:31:21Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-stop-wearing-monocles/304063/3 "2005-05-16T14:37:43Z")
They might make a comeback. [Pince nez](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pince_nez) were a thing of the past until **The Matrix** revived them. ---
**Author:** ![wez\_nilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wez\_nilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wez_nilez)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-stop-wearing-monocles/304063/4 "2005-05-16T14:38:35Z")
> [@E = mc²](#): > > 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? I enjoy this site alot and thats the only question I could think of that would be worth writting LOL… ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-stop-wearing-monocles/304063/5 "2005-05-16T14:41:33Z")
When we stopped smoking cigars and running industrial monopolies. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-stop-wearing-monocles/304063/6 "2005-05-16T14:49:32Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-stop-wearing-monocles/304063/7 "2005-05-16T15:02:31Z")
> [@Loopus](#): > > Plus, 9-year-olds look funny wearing monocles. Not if they do it with conviction. ---
**Author:** ![av8rmike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/edb3f5/32.png) [@av8rmike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/av8rmike)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-stop-wearing-monocles/304063/8 "2005-05-16T15:03:53Z")
> [@wez nilez](#): > > why did we stop wearing monocle’s? Whaddaya mean, _“we”_? _:: Inserts monocle, twirls mustache ::_ ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-stop-wearing-monocles/304063/9 "2005-05-16T15:08:11Z")
_How_ do you wear a monocle? I have never understood this. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-stop-wearing-monocles/304063/10 "2005-05-16T15:09:45Z")
Hmm. There was a link off the pince-nez page. Monocles are held in by _squinting_? Yike. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-stop-wearing-monocles/304063/11 "2005-05-16T15:17:02Z")
Britain’s most famous monocle wearer, Patrick Moore, [bemoans the end of an era](http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,898991,00.html). ---
**Author:** ![Birdmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71e660/32.png) [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-stop-wearing-monocles/304063/12 "2005-05-16T16:11:26Z")
> [@wez nilez](#): > > why did we stop wearing monocle’s? [This site](http://www.english.interoptika.ru/optics/history/monocle/) 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) ---
**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:** [May 16, 2005, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-stop-wearing-monocles/304063/13 "2005-05-16T16:37:25Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-stop-wearing-monocles/304063/14 "2005-05-16T16:38:14Z")
Many in my generation grew up with [Col. Klink](http://www.mishalov.com/Klemperer.html) 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. ---
**Author:** ![Birdmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71e660/32.png) [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-stop-wearing-monocles/304063/15 "2005-05-16T16:45:45Z")
I grew up thinking Rich Uncle Pennybags sported the monocle. I have been unable to verify this. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-stop-wearing-monocles/304063/16 "2005-05-16T19:31:04Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Birdmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71e660/32.png) [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-stop-wearing-monocles/304063/17 "2005-05-16T19:33:30Z")
Rich Uncle Pennybags IS the Monopoly Guy. I looked a few Community Chest cards today and he seemed monocle-less. Apparently, I was mistaken ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-stop-wearing-monocles/304063/18 "2005-05-16T20:45:18Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2005, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-stop-wearing-monocles/304063/19 "2005-05-16T21:40:27Z")
> [@dangermom](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2005, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-stop-wearing-monocles/304063/20 "2005-05-17T01:28:37Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > 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? I guess it would depend on whether or not I was a German officer. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-we-stop-wearing-monocles/304063.md?page=2)