Thursday, July 31, 2008

In the Pink; or, Color Me Outraged

My fellow Southern men are being brainwashed, and something must be done. Just today, I discovered that a co-worker had been victimized. I hadn't the heart to say anything to him; he seemed so happy.

You see, he was wearing … a pink Oxford shirt. He's a good Southern boy from Lambert, Miss., and he should know better. But he's hardly alone.

A basketball coach I know had a pink shirt that he wore throughout the state basketball tournament last year. His "lucky shirt," he called it. Well, his team lost in the championship game. Maybe his players couldn't take him seriously because of the shirt. It's not a tool of intimidation.

I see it everywhere, guys wearing pink dress shirts. Apparently it's the fashion, which means we're letting some Yankee tell us how to dress. The Yankees have decided that pink shirts look good on guys, our wives have somehow convinced many of us that's true, and so we've accepted yet another Northern abomination, one as disturbing as sweet cornbread and Rascal Flatts.

Growing up, I don't recall seeing one male wear a pink shirt, or a pink anything. I saw lots of girls wear them. Because pink is, you know, a feminine color, just like mint green and purple. My daughters wear pink. My son does not, nor will he ever as long as I'm buying his clothes.

You might say colors are gender-less, that my being anti-pink is a sign of my ignorance or poor fashion sense or whatever. I say, some things in life are black and white, and pink needs to stay where it belongs – off of me.

Today's Redneck Thought: "Mashed potatoes from a box. That's what's wrong with this country." – Lewis Grizzard

4 comments:

DukesBloops said...

You won't catch me wearing pink!

Unknown said...

Pink was very popular for guys in the 80's. You must be too young to remember it. I remember it well. Oxford shirts in pastel colors were the only "cool" thing for them to wear. I have to say that I agree with you, though, pink is not for guys. I don't anticipate buying any for my son.

I have been to Tupelo twice in the past month, and I am pretty sure that I saw you both times. Maybe I'll get up the nerve to speak to you next time.

Rena said...

A seersucker suit says "Southern gentleman." There is a very short step from a seersucker suit to a pink shirt. A pink shirt may be an abomination to all redneck men, but not Southern men. Actually, my dad definitely qualifies as redneck and he sported a hot pink "Brushpopper" western shirt during the Garth Brooks era.

Unknown said...

I must disagree Mr. Locke. I, being an Ole Miss student but not in a fraternity, do like to wear pink button shirts whenever I go out on the town. I'm telling you, the girls love it. Sure some guys may make certain comments about others wearing pink, but come to Oxford and frequent some of the local dives. I can guarantee you about 30% of the guys in there who are of college age will be wearing pink. And I can almost guarantee that they will have more than one girl with them.