# Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 25, 2007, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-polka-dot-bikini/413096 "2007-07-25T15:59:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [July 25, 2007, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-polka-dot-bikini/413096/41 "2007-07-25T23:14:59Z")
Yellow, with yellow dots of a different shade. ---
**Author:** ![stretch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@stretch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stretch)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-polka-dot-bikini/413096/42 "2007-07-25T23:27:05Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Yellow, with yellow dots of a different shade. [/QUOTE] You’re just being difficult. 😛 ---
**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:** [July 25, 2007, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-polka-dot-bikini/413096/43 "2007-07-25T23:36:48Z")
A Google image search on “yellow polka dot bikini” turns up almost exclusively suits with yellow backgrounds and white or black dots. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-polka-dot-bikini/413096/44 "2007-07-25T23:41:56Z")
Edlyn says white bikini with yellow polka dots. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-polka-dot-bikini/413096/45 "2007-07-25T23:59:41Z")
[QUOTE=Fiver] Yellow with red polka dots. [/QUOTE] Same here. Though my wife said she always pictured a yellow bikini with white dots. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-polka-dot-bikini/413096/46 "2007-07-26T00:12:46Z")
Huh. Never questioned this before. I see it as yellow background, black dots. Also, for some reason, that song is inextricably linked with _One Eyed, One Horned, Giant Purple People Eater_ in my brain. ---
**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:** [July 26, 2007, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-polka-dot-bikini/413096/47 "2007-07-26T00:28:01Z")
[QUOTE=stretch] You’re just being difficult. 😛 [/QUOTE] I despise ambiguity. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-polka-dot-bikini/413096/48 "2007-07-26T00:34:55Z")
From hearing the song in the yogurt commercial, it surprises me that "she was afraid to come out of the locker’. Did “locker” used to mean something else, like a little changing hut? Or maybe locker _room_? ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-polka-dot-bikini/413096/49 "2007-07-26T00:44:35Z")
I’ve heard the song only one or two times, and it seemed to me that the point of the song was that it was a **tiny** bikini. Yes, something about it was yelllow, but the fact that it was “revealing” was the point of the song. Whether the dots were yellow, or the bikini itself, were yellow is not really important. But to me [not to hijack], what really matters is why this pattern is called “polka dot”? I’m not a fan of polka, but why should these dots be named after polka music? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-polka-dot-bikini/413096/50 "2007-07-26T02:01:01Z")
I’m old enough to remember when polka dots were all the rage, and white was the default color for the dots, unless stated otherwise. “Yellow polka-dot” would have meant yellow with large white dots, or possibly the reverse, but if any other color was involved, it would have been mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-polka-dot-bikini/413096/51 "2007-07-26T02:05:35Z")
white with yellow dots possibly pink with yellow dots but not yellow with some other color dots ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-polka-dot-bikini/413096/52 "2007-07-26T02:57:24Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] From hearing the song in the yogurt commercial, it surprises me that "she was afraid to come out of the locker’. Did “locker” used to mean something else, like a little changing hut? Or maybe locker _room_? [/QUOTE] I’m guessing it scans better than “cabana.” I don’t think they had locker rooms much at the beach. ---
**Author:** ![Helena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-polka-dot-bikini/413096/53 "2007-07-26T02:59:46Z")
I could have sworn we did this thread before. Maybe it was somewhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-polka-dot-bikini/413096/54 "2007-07-26T03:00:42Z")
I think yellow with white dots. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-polka-dot-bikini/413096/55 "2007-07-26T03:13:09Z")
[QUOTE=guizot] But to me [not to hijack], what really matters is why this pattern is called “polka dot”? I’m not a fan of polka, but why should these dots be named after polka music? [/QUOTE] According to [the Wikipedia article on polka dots](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polka_dot): _While polka dots are ancient, they first became common on clothing in the late nineteenth century in Britain. At the same time polka music was extremely popular and the name was also applied to the pattern, despite no real connection between them._ To dovetail back into the original thread topic, this sort of “naming by coincidental concurrent event” is also how the name “bikini” for the outfit came about; the two-piece outfit was popularized right around the time the Bikini Atolls were in the news due to them being used for H-bomb testing). And “ball point pens” are called (literally) “atomic pens” in Chinese for the same reason. And I’ll note that the picture given is a yellow background with red dots. _Just like I imagined the bikini in the song_, ha ha! ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-polka-dot-bikini/413096/56 "2007-07-26T03:18:17Z")
[QUOTE=ShiefferSaw] Theres a yogurt commercial with this song playing. They show it as a yellow bikini with pink polka dots. [/QUOTE] Well, \*that \* settles it. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-polka-dot-bikini/413096/57 "2007-07-26T11:09:55Z")
[QUOTE=Rube E. Tewesday] Hijack: Whoa, they get Polkaroo in South Africa? [/QUOTE] well, when I was a lot younger, yeah, we had _Polka Dot Door_. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-polka-dot-bikini/413096/58 "2007-07-26T11:22:59Z")
Yellow with white polka dots as well. And she’s fiiiiiiine as hell. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-polka-dot-bikini/413096/59 "2007-07-26T11:29:41Z")
Río by Duran Duran. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-polka-dot-bikini/413096/60 "2007-07-26T12:03:32Z")
Black with yellow dots and the dots are medium sized. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-polka-dot-bikini/413096.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yellow-polka-dot-bikini/413096.md?page=4)