# Why the "janitor's buttcrack"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 10, 2008, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-janitors-buttcrack/452419 "2008-06-10T05:38:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-janitors-buttcrack/452419/1 "2008-06-10T05:38:41Z")
It’s not just a popcult meme or trope, these indecently-low-hanging jeans are something I’ve seen many times in real life. I can think of two explanations: 1. If you’re a janitor, repairman, plumber, etc., you have to do a lot of squatting and stooping and kneeling and crawling; loose unbelted pants are practical. 2. It started out as 1., but caught on and morphed into an unofficial uniform. Any other possibilities? ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-janitors-buttcrack/452419/2 "2008-06-10T05:44:31Z")
It’s called “builder’s smile” here. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-janitors-buttcrack/452419/3 "2008-06-10T05:45:43Z")
Toolbelts. They weigh on the pants, pulling them down, especially when a belt is not worn. If you’re asking why it’s been adopted by teenage boys as a uniform, I don’t know. But I often want to run up and urgently whisper “Excuse me, but your PANTS are falling down!” when I see them. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-janitors-buttcrack/452419/4 "2008-06-10T05:53:52Z")
[QUOTE=Alice The Goon] Toolbelts. They weigh on the pants, pulling them down, especially when a belt is not worn. If you’re asking why it’s been adopted by teenage boys as a uniform, I don’t know. But I often want to run up and urgently whisper “Excuse me, but your PANTS are falling down!” when I see them. [/QUOTE] It’s been teenage to twenty-something girls here for the last five years (the boys are just starting to do it). As far as the girls go, look I’m a red blooded man, but this IS NOT sexy. I only want to see somebody’s underwear in specific situations, and a shopping mall is not one of them. As for the boys, I can’t imagine how embarrassed I’d have felt if my pants looked like that at that age. OK, so styles have changed, but IT STILL LOOKS STUPID. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-janitors-buttcrack/452419/5 "2008-06-10T06:18:21Z")
Heh. You just noticed this? Don’t move to Oakland. The theory I hear most often, with respect to this “style feature” among the gangsta rap culture here, is that it is meant to be ugly and disrespectful in order to repudiate society, of which they want no part. Yikes! I just realized that the sentence above could just as easily have been describing the punk look of my youth… that’s really weird. Cause I think the buttcrack thing looks stupid too. _It’s different, man… it just is, okay?_ ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-janitors-buttcrack/452419/6 "2008-06-10T07:05:37Z")
Thought it was a “prisoner’s crack” - no belt, so the trousers keep slipping down. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-janitors-buttcrack/452419/7 "2008-06-10T12:59:08Z")
[QUOTE=Alice The Goon] If you’re asking why it’s been adopted by teenage boys as a uniform, I don’t know. [/QUOTE] Oh, **that** I know. (My Dad used to be a public schoolteacher.) It’s called “housin’,” from jail, the “house,” where your clothes are never the right size and had better be too big than too small. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-janitors-buttcrack/452419/8 "2008-06-10T13:08:15Z")
I heard that gays in jail wear their uniforms tight to show off their merchandise to prospective buyers. For women, I think the crack = butt cleavage. For men…nah, let’s not go there. Remember the SNL skit where Aykroyd plays the refrigerator repairman? “I’ll need you to sign here…” [pulls out pencil from crack]. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-janitors-buttcrack/452419/9 "2008-06-10T13:11:35Z")
[QUOTE=lobotomyboy63] Remember the SNL skit where Aykroyd plays the refrigerator repairman? “I’ll need you to sign here…” [pulls out pencil from crack]. [/QUOTE] Later reprised on The Nanny, to much hilarity. Fran Drescher and Dan Aykroyd and their spouses have a close friendship that goes back to when Fran & Dan starred in Dr. Detroit. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-janitors-buttcrack/452419/10 "2008-06-10T13:20:53Z")
For some reason, I get this great catalog sometimes that’s for working men - contractors, plumbers, etc. They sell lots of things to avoid plumber’s crack - I believe one of their shirts is even called “Crack Spackle”? And comes in a little tub, as if it were really spackle for your ass crack? Anyway, there is a market evidently for longer shirts. 🙂 Does anybody know the catalog I’m thinking of? It’s one of those catalogs that’s taller than it is wide. I was looking for it to maybe order Himself some more heatproof underwear. ETA - Sorry. I promised I wouldn’t say “Himself” anymore because people hate me in the Pit for it. Promise this is my last one. ---
**Author:** ![John\_T.Conklin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_t.conklin/32/3307_2.png) [@John\_T.Conklin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_T.Conklin)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-janitors-buttcrack/452419/11 "2008-06-10T13:36:38Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] Does anybody know the catalog I’m thinking of? [/QUOTE] [Duluth Trading Company](http://www.duluthtrading.com/). ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-janitors-buttcrack/452419/12 "2008-06-10T13:46:05Z")
[QUOTE=lobotomyboy63] Remember the SNL skit where Aykroyd plays the refrigerator repairman? “I’ll need you to sign here…” [pulls out pencil from crack]. [/QUOTE] Oh dear, it’s got _#2_ on it. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-janitors-buttcrack/452419/13 "2008-06-10T13:47:40Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] Anyway, there is a market evidently for longer shirts. 🙂 [/QUOTE] I’m only just 6 feet tall, but for almost 20 years I’ve worn Tall shirts specifically so that I would not have to worry about them becoming tucked out. Glad to see I’m an innovator. 🙂 _Someone pitted you over “Himself”?_ :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-janitors-buttcrack/452419/14 "2008-06-10T14:06:25Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] It’s called “builder’s smile” here. 😃 [/QUOTE] In the UK it’s “builder’s crack”. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-janitors-buttcrack/452419/15 "2008-06-10T14:06:30Z")
Well, it was a mini-rant. Kind of hurt my feelings, though. It is indeed the Duluth Trading Company. Now - “The Way Better Boxer” or “MN Performance Boxers”? God, I guess we might as well get married, huh? ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-janitors-buttcrack/452419/16 "2008-06-10T14:21:54Z")
And don’t forget the lovely Man Show invention of Crack Spackle! ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-janitors-buttcrack/452419/17 "2008-06-10T14:47:37Z")
An while not true of all tradesmen, many of them have large pot-bellies that prohibit them from wearing their pants up around their waists. Instead, they wear them down around their narrower hips and from there it isn’t very far to the crack. On girls I don’t know which is worse, a little crack showing or muffin-top with little rolls of fat overhanging the top of the jeans. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-janitors-buttcrack/452419/18 "2008-06-10T15:15:07Z")
[QUOTE=plnnr] An while not true of all tradesmen, many of them have large pot-bellies that prohibit them from wearing their pants up around their waists. Instead, they wear them down around their narrower hips and from there it isn’t very far to the crack. On girls I don’t know which is worse, a little crack showing or muffin-top with little rolls of fat overhanging the top of the jeans. [/QUOTE] You can get both - crack _and_ muffin top. I work at a public library, and our computer chairs for the public are backless. My god, the things I’ve seen. ---
**Author:** ![chicken\_wire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@chicken\_wire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chicken_wire)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-janitors-buttcrack/452419/19 "2008-06-10T15:19:51Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] It’s called “builder’s smile” here. 😃 [/QUOTE] I’d have said “plumber’s smile” ~ same difference, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-janitors-buttcrack/452419/20 "2008-06-10T15:23:02Z")
The “bike rack” is also facilitated by the gut, which tends to push it’s way over the top of the waist band if there’s a lot of bending an push the pants down onto the hips. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-janitors-buttcrack/452419.md?page=2)