# Why do old men like lawns? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 19, 2016, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-old-men-like-lawns/760360 "2016-07-19T21:52:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-old-men-like-lawns/760360/81 "2016-07-21T01:12:07Z")
Who wouldn’t? ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-old-men-like-lawns/760360/82 "2016-07-21T06:07:07Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > What are you going to have if you don’t have a lawn? [Xeriscaping](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xeriscaping). ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-old-men-like-lawns/760360/83 "2016-07-21T10:37:27Z")
I’m 50. I mow my lawn, but have never watered nor fertilized it. Some times the snow arrives before I get rid of the leaves and I have some bare spots – I have reseeded these. I do have a fair amount of clover and violets (I think they look nice). Waiting for genetically engineered grass that stops growing at 3" Brian ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-old-men-like-lawns/760360/84 "2016-07-21T12:09:09Z")
I care because it can reflect home value and assessed taxable value. Also, it can make your home stand out from your neighbors (who can be Very judgemental) if yours is 'the worst lawn on the block. Also, at least in this state, you can get ticketed for not cutting your lawn… meaning you’d have to cut the lawn and then either pay the ticket or spend days and money trying to fight the ticket… a loss of income even if you win. If you want to say you’ve noticed that older men don’t like having to lose a day of work fighting things in court that they could have avoided by cutting their lawn, well I’d agree with you. I might find it entertaining to hear how other segments of society don’t have that aversion however. 😃 …And I won’t even bring up how in some communities there is practically a “Landscaper Mafia” into whose pockets I chose not to throw my hard-earned dollars. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-old-men-like-lawns/760360/85 "2016-07-21T13:07:24Z")
> [@spamforbrains](#): > > I think lawns are an environmental disaster, and I have never encountered a single woman who thinks lawns are in any way important or even remotely interesting. My wife is much more interested in maintaining our lawns than I am. I mean, I help out, but she’s the one who places a great deal of pride in it. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-old-men-like-lawns/760360/86 "2016-07-21T13:38:58Z")
I don’t want a lawn. I want this [https://www.google.com/search?q=garden+images&biw=1366&bih=659&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjWob3Y1oTOAhXFoD4KHTpkDG8Q7AkINg#imgrc=KgdRmh2ItbfSoM%3A](https://www.google.com/search?q=garden+images&biw=1366&bih=659&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjWob3Y1oTOAhXFoD4KHTpkDG8Q7AkINg#imgrc=KgdRmh2ItbfSoM%3A) ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-old-men-like-lawns/760360/87 "2016-07-21T14:22:50Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > [Xeriscaping](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xeriscaping). There’s a guy on the next block who tore out a row of shrubs in front of his house. He replaced it with a row of office copiers. I think he missed the point of Xeriscaping. ---
**Author:** ![Doyle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doyle/32/439_2.png) [@Doyle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doyle)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-old-men-like-lawns/760360/88 "2016-07-21T14:47:16Z")
The OP must have the city called on him recently. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-old-men-like-lawns/760360/89 "2016-07-21T17:10:47Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > Our lawn is used for similar purpose. However, I have noticed over the years, if a lawn is used as the kids’ playground it doesn’t stay that beautiful, even expanse of rolling green grass and quickly takes on that barren lot terrain suitable for kids playing. Soccer balls are a great way to kill grass. My grandparents never had that problem, despite raising five kids and then with eleven grandkids. My grandfather had more issues with deer and groundhogs back in his garden. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-old-men-like-lawns/760360/90 "2016-07-21T17:24:38Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > My grandparents never had that problem, despite raising five kids and then with eleven grandkids. My grandfather had more issues with deer and groundhogs back in his garden. A lawn that is never played on is going going to be in better shape than one that sees a lot of traffic. Kids can be hell on grass. But [priorities are important](http://babyblues.com/comics/july-17-2005/). ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-old-men-like-lawns/760360/91 "2016-07-21T18:14:19Z")
> [@Me\_Billy](#): > > Older people are not selfish like the younger generations. They do things which will please other people. In this case it looks nice for their neighbors to look at… But isn’t it incredibly selfish to dump a bunch of pesticides into the environment just to have a nice lawn? If you’re maintaining your lawn for me, please stop, they creep me out. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-old-men-like-lawns/760360/92 "2016-07-21T18:43:13Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > A lawn that is never played on is going going to be in better shape than one that sees a lot of traffic. Kids can be hell on grass. But [priorities are important](http://babyblues.com/comics/july-17-2005/). I guess, maybe it’s just nostalgia coloring my view? ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-old-men-like-lawns/760360/93 "2016-07-21T18:45:52Z")
I liked my lawn a lot more 70 years ago than I do now. I was even allowed to go out and play on it. Unsupervised. My lawn was a lovely place, full of wonders, waiting to be explored, even when covered with snow or leaves… I had no responsibility for it, it was just there. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-old-men-like-lawns/760360/94 "2016-07-21T21:20:34Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > Spraying herbicide on lawns was still unusual when I was a kid. The idea of the Tru-Green man coming around to spray every lawn on the block 4 times a year simply did not exist. Today, vast swaths of American cities have nothing for wild bees to eat. While lawns were very common in (say) the 1950s, these days there is a lot more interest in (and support for) alternatives to lawns - ornamental and vegetable patches, meadows etc. And the pesticides used back then were a hell of a lot more toxic than what gets sprayed now. When Rachel Carson weighed in against the use of chlordane to kill lawn grubs, she was talking about the '50s and early '60s. Even if you were nuts enough now to want to use that stuff, it’s illegal/impossible to find. While lawns are in many cases not very environment/wildlife diversity-friendly, the situation has improved.\* As for the wealthy being the prime owners of lawns hundreds of years ago, that was the case not just because of the labor involved. “Cottage gardens” and the like existed to provide produce (and some flowers) to those with small incomes. Grass would’ve been a terrible waste of their limited growing space. \*the sheer amount and variety of wildlife in our deep suburban yard (which is about two-thirds lawn) is amazing, and sometimes disturbing. Finding a well-gnawed deer carcass in the “back forty” makes you think. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-old-men-like-lawns/760360/95 "2016-07-24T04:35:25Z")
I’m wondering if this is an American thing? I honestly don’t know a single person who gives a shit about their lawn beyond ensuring it’s mown and isn’t inhabited by snakes, for the most part. ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-old-men-like-lawns/760360/96 "2016-07-24T17:54:20Z")
Front lawns are almost an obsession in some suburbs. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-old-men-like-lawns/760360/97 "2016-07-24T23:08:45Z")
> [@spamforbrains](#): > > Front lawns are almost an obsession in some suburbs. No kidding, I went to a graduation party for a colleague’s daughter out in the burbs and people were talking about lawn care. I swear, I thought they saw my DC tags and putting me on, but nope that’s what passed for interesting to them. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-old-men-like-lawns/760360/98 "2016-07-25T03:48:52Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > I’m wondering if this is an American thing? I honestly don’t know a single person who gives a shit about their lawn beyond ensuring it’s mown and isn’t inhabited by snakes, for the most part. I live on a street full of Americans who spend exactly no time or money on their lawns. We had a “block party” (city blocked off the street for a potluck with music) where one new neighbor remarked that that’s a big plus of our 'hood. ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-old-men-like-lawns/760360/99 "2016-07-25T19:04:27Z")
I think its because old women control everything else in the house. It gives us the illusion of being in control of something. A nice lawn and cooking on the grill are manly activities and not to be interfered with by womenfolk. Said womenfolk are smart enough to let us play at our little games if it keeps us in line elsewhere. I could go on but I have to take out the trash. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-old-men-like-lawns/760360/100 "2016-07-25T19:45:38Z")
> [@spamforbrains](#): > > I think lawns are an environmental disaster, and I have never encountered a single woman who thinks lawns are in any way important or even remotely interesting. But I have met a lot of men who think a perfect green expansive is important. I dumped a sexual partner once when he suddenly changed from normal to actually caring about what the lawn looked like, and I’m currently completely mystified about my dad’s obsession with the lawn. Is this like a peacock’s tail? No. A peacock’s tail is mostly for displaying to potential sexual partners (female peafowl). A lawn, to the extent it’s a social signal, is a display for status among other males; for allies not sexual partners. I suppose a rough equivalent is designer shoes? Heterosexual men don’t care about them; they’re really just to show off to other women, right? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-old-men-like-lawns/760360.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-old-men-like-lawns/760360.md?page=6)