# Why do straws have stripes on them? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 27, 2002, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-straws-have-stripes-on-them/100288 "2002-03-27T01:23:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-straws-have-stripes-on-them/100288/1 "2002-03-27T01:23:20Z")
Almost every plastic straw I’ve seen has a red stripe along one side. The ones at McDonald’s have a red stripe on one side and a yellow stripe on the other. Some, like the solid blue kind, have no stripe at all. It seems like painting the stripe on must add complexity to the straw-making process. Couldn’t they eliminate entire machines from the production line by getting rid of the stripes? What’s it for, anyway, and if stripes are useful enough to justify the cost, why don’t all straws have them? ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-straws-have-stripes-on-them/100288/2 "2002-03-27T03:34:07Z")
musta been some patriot that started it who didn’t know the difference from stars and stripes… and thought the country meant straws and stripes… fer instance, even a certain president we know wouldn’t know the difference… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-straws-have-stripes-on-them/100288/3 "2002-03-27T03:48:52Z")
They make the liquid rise faster… derr… ---
**Author:** ![aseymayo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@aseymayo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aseymayo)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-straws-have-stripes-on-them/100288/4 "2002-03-27T05:34:26Z")
I’m not Nikstlitslepmur and can’t tell you anything about how gold turns into straws, but I can say in the case of McDonald’s, they are happy to pay the expense (which I don’t think is much, anyway), in order to have a distinctive and recognizable straw as part of their packaging. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-straws-have-stripes-on-them/100288/5 "2002-03-27T08:34:23Z")
Are the stripes actually painted on or are they part of the plastic? - if the latter, this could just mean that the straw is extruded (or whatever) from a machine that has four nozzles; two coloured and two clear. As to the reason; aesthetics mostly I suspect , but there might be a practical side: as you bend down to pick up that McMorsel that dropped on the floor (and don’t tell me you don’t do this), coloured straws are easier to see and avoid poking your eye out. ---
**Author:** ![kase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a5b964/32.png) [@kase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kase)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-straws-have-stripes-on-them/100288/6 "2002-03-27T10:15:38Z")
Ooo HA HA HA. This is too much. For heaven’s sake. I just got out of bed and being confronted with world shocking questions- and their answers- is more than I can bear. \*\*coffee !!! \*\* 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kuroashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e9a140/32.png) [@kuroashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kuroashi)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-straws-have-stripes-on-them/100288/7 "2002-03-27T10:23:24Z")
Drinking coffee with a straw could be dangerous, bud. The stripes used to be a lot twistier too. They used to go around the straw a few times. Now they’re almost straight stripes; no fun! I miss drinking with Crazy Straws, you know, the kind that look like they’ll turn into knots if you pull on both ends… ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-straws-have-stripes-on-them/100288/8 "2002-03-27T11:09:12Z")
Stripes are…fun! [http://www.diamondbrands.com/forsterstraws.html](http://www.diamondbrands.com/forsterstraws.html) ---
**Author:** ![femtosecond](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@femtosecond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/femtosecond)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-straws-have-stripes-on-them/100288/9 "2002-03-27T13:48:42Z")
**Käse** , this is _serious_! 🙂 > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > **Are the stripes actually painted on or are they part of the plastic? - if the latter, this could just mean that the straw is extruded (or whatever) from a machine that has four nozzles; two coloured and two clear.** Cutting open a straw reveals there is no color on the inside. Aha: painted on. …Any normal guy would have stopped here, but we are _dopers_, dammit! 🙂 Putting it under a microscope (what do you mean, “weird”?) reveals the coloring reaches about a quarter into the plastic, so my guess is it’s like striped tooth paste: One tube extrusion nozzle with holes or channels around, melting colored plastic on (and partly into) the main tube. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-straws-have-stripes-on-them/100288/10 "2002-03-27T14:06:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kuroashi \* > **The stripes used to be a lot twistier too. They used to go around the straw a few times.** That is because they were made by wrapping paper in a [**spiral pattern**](http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blstraws.htm). Therefore it was easy to use a strip of paper with one colored edge and the spiral stripe would be formed on the straw. Plastic straws being extruded can more easily be made with stripes running straight down the straw. > [@](#): > > \*\*I miss drinking with Crazy Straws, you know, the kind that look like they’ll turn into knots if you pull on both ends… \*\* This is all you ever wanted to know about [**Crazy Straws**](http://www.geocities.com/televisioncity/set/8681/straws.html). 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![kase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a5b964/32.png) [@kase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kase)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-straws-have-stripes-on-them/100288/11 "2002-03-27T16:37:05Z")
Thank you, thank you all. No, I mean it. Thank you. **femtosecond** What about the DNA on the straw? _So pleased with this solved puzzle_ 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-straws-have-stripes-on-them/100288/12 "2002-03-27T16:45:59Z")
The purpose of the stripes is to discharge static electricity. Plastic is a good insulator, and the stripes are made of a dielectric material which will safely discharge any difference in potential between your lips and the drink before the liquid has time to make it’s way up the straw and into your mouth, where it could cause a dangerous shock if left ungrounded. Straws without the stripes are made of a type of plastic that incorporates dielectric material into the plastic itself, hence no need for the separate stripes. This type of plastic is more expensive than regular plastic, but the upside is the straws are cheaper to manufacture, which evens out in the end. (Something tells me **femtosecond** is now going to test a straw with an ohmmeter.) ---
**Author:** ![roadrunner70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@roadrunner70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roadrunner70)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-straws-have-stripes-on-them/100288/13 "2002-03-27T16:54:09Z")
Anybody else just _love_ tearing one end off the wrapper, and blowing that sucker across the room. Or is that just a stupid question? ---
**Author:** ![Bumbazine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbazine/32/362_2.png) [@Bumbazine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbazine)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-straws-have-stripes-on-them/100288/14 "2002-03-27T16:59:23Z")
The stripes are there to remind people to put the straw into the drink lengthwise rather than trying to shove it in sideways, of course. BTW, if you frequent places that have happy hour and they use those big toothpicks with fluffy plastic on one end, straws make excellent little blowguns. Just thought you should know. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_In\_The\_Cape](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9a140/32.png) [@Cat\_In\_The\_Cape](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_In_The_Cape)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-straws-have-stripes-on-them/100288/15 "2002-03-27T17:12:06Z")
Stripes are from the days of paper straws, which you could peel and unroll along the stripes. The first plastic straws had vertical stripes to have a similar look, which then moved to diagonal as they got better at patterning. Now of course, the reason to be similar is gone, since paper isn’t the market leader to compete with. ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-straws-have-stripes-on-them/100288/16 "2002-03-27T17:35:56Z")
**Mr2001** -"\*It seems like painting the stripe on must add complexity to the straw-making process. \*" Imagine what they must go through to make the “bendy” straws! ---
**Author:** ![femtosecond](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@femtosecond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/femtosecond)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2002, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-straws-have-stripes-on-them/100288/17 "2002-03-27T19:46:32Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by käse_ > **femtosecond** What about the DNA on the straw? Mhh. My straws have _four_ stripes… A quadruple helix! It’s **alive**! :eek: