# Why no wire hangers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 18, 2010, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wire-hangers/532957 "2010-03-18T23:33:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wire-hangers/532957/21 "2010-03-19T13:36:59Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Did you by any chance go to Fairwold (now Sanders) Middle School? Nope. Chiddix Jr High. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wire-hangers/532957/22 "2010-03-19T14:26:27Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Wire hangers, OTOH, are fine for my manly cotton shirts. Yeah. My wife has several items, especially loose-knit thin sweaters, that she threatened to throw away for getting those “shoulder nipples” for being hung on wire (or those think plastic) hangars for too long. We have a large collection of very wide plastic hangars, like stores keep suits on; she uses those for her stuff. Men’s shirts OTOH are made of stiff, less deformable cotton and the shoulders are usually a double-panel where they sit on the hangar. I use the wire for my shirts. The Joan Crawford episode relates to Joan being obsessive and berating her daughter for hanging her clothes in a way that would ruin them. Abortion innuendo is a cynical double entendre, but IIRC the girl was much too young for that to be an interpretation. Joan just would fly off the handle (according to Christina) when things were not exactly the way they ought to be. The fact that acquaintances dispute the behaviour does not surprise me. Most such people can be charming and pleasant when they know others are watching; they have their favourite targets when they are free to do what they want. Not that the Wikipedia article says that the neighbour, Betty Hutton, saw this; someone living nearby would see this more often. Others more likely only saw Crawford in more formal settings when she was on her best behaviour. The funny thing about abuse, is that the person CAN control it; they don’t do it in plain public view, they know when they can get caught and when to behave. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wire-hangers/532957/23 "2010-03-19T15:04:53Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > This isn’t in response to the OP, but I think it’s important for people to know that Christina Crawford’s account has been disputed by her two younger sisters. Several of Joan Crawford’s friends and family from those years have defended her. That doesn’t mean that none of it happened or that Joan Crawford was a saint, but she wasn’t necessarily an ogre, either. Here is the [Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mommie_Dearest). I read that. However, it wouldn’t be the first time everyone else in the family denied systemic abuse. I mean, hell, my entire family denied anything was going on in my house (emotional abusers only) and I know there is at least one person on this very board whose name I won’t mention out of respect who was told to her face that she had just imagined all of the sexual abuse. Abusers are super super pretty people to outsiders. And there’s always the people who come from wonderful families who say “She’s your mother, she loves you no matter what, you’re lying/making it up/mistaken.” As to the wire hangars, remember that Joan was crazy in that book. My mother used to do that too; flip out over the littlest thing. I remember once a laundry mixup caused two weeks of silent treatment. An insurance mixup caused three hours of yelling and screaming. Plus wire hangars really do suck. However it’s good to keep a few on hand so you can bend them and use them for other things should you need to. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wire-hangers/532957/24 "2010-03-19T16:10:51Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Yeah. My wife has several items, especially loose-knit thin sweaters, that she threatened to throw away for getting those “shoulder nipples” for being hung on wire (or those think plastic) hangars for too long. We have a large collection of very wide plastic hangars, like stores keep suits on; she uses those for her stuff. Tell your wife she shouldn’t be hanging sweaters for this reason (along with the fact they’ll stretch out from the hanging). Fold your sweaters! ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wire-hangers/532957/25 "2010-03-19T17:35:50Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > This was my first thought about what it was referring to. I’m surprised it took 18 posts for someone to bring it up. No one brought it up because it doesn’t have a thing to do with why Joan Crawford was supposed to have objected to wire hangers. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wire-hangers/532957/26 "2010-03-19T17:47:51Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I read that. However, it wouldn’t be the first time everyone else in the family denied systemic abuse. . . I’m sorry about your family history, but I have a problem with this. Yes, there are families where most of the family members deny abuse that actually occurred. There are also families in which abuse is claimed when none took place (e.g. the widespread claims of satanic ritual abuse during the 80s). I’m don’t claim that Joan Crawford wasn’t abusive, but it should be noted that there are people who were there at the time who dispute Christina Crawford’s account. To discount their statements out of hand because “other family members routinely deny abuse” is a kind of presumption of guilt, in which all evidence is interpreted to point in the same direction. Joe McCarthy and his ilk used these types of tactics, where the denial of guilt was used as evidence of guilt. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wire-hangers/532957/27 "2010-03-19T17:59:33Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > I’m sorry about your family history, but I have a problem with this. Yes, there are families where most of the family members deny abuse that actually occurred. There are also families in which abuse is claimed when none took place (e.g. the widespread claims of satanic ritual abuse during the 80s). I’m don’t claim that Joan Crawford wasn’t abusive, but it should be noted that there are people who were there at the time who dispute Christina Crawford’s account. To discount their statements out of hand because “other family members routinely deny abuse” is a kind of presumption of guilt, in which all evidence is interpreted to point in the same direction. Joe McCarthy and his ilk used these types of tactics, where the denial of guilt was used as evidence of guilt. I am not disagreeing with you. You are right, of course. But merely stating that other people claim there is no abuse is not enough to discount Christina’s story, either. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wire-hangers/532957/28 "2010-03-19T18:19:57Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Wire hangers are bad. They poke creases where you don’t want them (Shoulder nipples, yeah). They can actually make holes in things. They tangle in the closet. They can rust. > > They are very good for wiener roasts and moderately acceptable for breaking into locked cars. You can use them to make xmas wreaths. (Or wreaths for other holidays/occasions, I guess.) But they are not good for hanging clothing. > > Even my dry cleaner covers them with spongy plastic thingies, and I get the clothes off of them and onto my nice hangers as soon as I get them home. I use the better sort of plastic clothes hangers, the kind that have a swiveling hook, and I put [these thingies](http://www.containerstore.com/shop/closet/hangers/hangerAccessories?productId=10004055) on them. Stops shoulder nipples AND prevents the more slippery garments from sliding to the floor. That’s about the kind of hanger that I have, too. They don’t tangle in the closet nearly as easily as wire hangers. I do have plenty of wire hangers around, though, and I use them often. I just don’t use them to hang up my clothes. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wire-hangers/532957/29 "2010-03-19T18:49:35Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > In fact, you’ll still see padded hangars (sometimes called “lingerie” or “delicate”) specifically designed to keep the shoulders rolled instead forming creases. Spelling nitpick: normal people can ignore this post. Padded hangars are for crazy airplanes. _hang **a** r_ is etymologically unrelated to _hang **e** r_: the latter is an agent noun from the verb _hang_, while according to [here](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=hangar&searchmode=none) _hangar_ is originally ‘1852, “shed for carriages,” from Fr. _hangar_ “shed,” from [M.Fr](http://M.Fr). _hanghart_, perhaps an alteration of M.Du. \*_ham-gaerd_ “enclosure near a house,” or from M.L. _angarium_ “shed in which horses are shod.” Sense of “covered shed for airplanes” first recorded in Eng. 1902, from Fr. use in that sense.’ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-wire-hangers/532957.md?page=1)