Hey! I wear Key overalls, too! GMTA
Way Off Topic but a good read about overalls (even though he mentions Liberty, I still wear Key overalls):
In Praise Of Overalls
I come today to praise that great icon of Americana — overalls. Specifically, I come to praise Liberty overalls. If a more comfortable and useful garment has ever been invented, I've never heard of it.
Think of all the advantages that overalls offer. First, they're relatively inexpensive. For a modest price — $30 to $40 — anyone can walk out of a store with a brand new pair. There's not many outfits that go for that little these days.
Second, overalls can be worn nearly anywhere, for any purpose. Brand spanking-new overalls (AKA “Sunday-go-to-meeting” overalls) paired with a clean, white button-up shirt forms the vaunted “Tennessee Tuxedo,” an ensemble suitable for all but the most formal occasions. Older, more faded overalls are everyday “going-to-town” overalls. Not quite as nice as the blinding blue ones, but still suitable for running to town. Finally, there's those “so-faded-out-that-they're-almost-white” overalls for working around
the yard or lounging about the house. They're comfortable, sort of like hanging out with an old friend.
Third, overalls have pockets — lots of pockets, myriads of pockets, pockets on every available pocket-possible place. Levi Strauss had to add a pocket to their Dockers line of trousers for cell phones, iPods and other gizmos. My
trusty old overalls already had a cell phone pocket and an iPod pocket and an “other gizmos” pocket. The good folks at Liberty just didn't know that's what those pockets were for back in 1912 when they put them there. They thought those pockets were for whetstones, fold-up rulers and such; they had no idea what folks in 2010 needed to pocket. That's good old American
foresight for you. Liberty overalls even have a watch pocket and two pencil pockets, still useful after all these years.
Fourth, overalls are just designed well. Let's look at those pockets again. They're huge. There's plenty of room in those rugged pockets for anything, and they're much easier to access than pockets on khakis.
Think of the galluses on overalls. There's no need for suspenders since they're already included. The general fine design of Liberty overalls is reflected by their rugged toughness. I don't think I've ever worn a pair slap out. Then again, I'm not exactly farming in them. When I've retired a pair,
it's to the overalls Hall of Fame, not to the garbage.
Given all the advantages to overalls, I honestly don't know why I haven't worn them all my life. I don't know why I don't wear them all the time now. Unless it's really hot, I wear them around the house and to town, but I don't
usually wear overalls to work. However, since I don't teach on Fridays, I sometimes wear them to the office then. I'm in my office grading or researching or writing lectures or something like that all day, and overalls are a comfortable garment in which to accomplish all those tasks. It's my own good old boy version of casual Friday.
Although there's always been a pair of overalls somewhere in my house, I really can't remember when I started liking overalls to the point of amazement. It may have come from one of my professors at Auburn. Unlike the other professors, who generally wore attire suitable for a business office, she wore blue jeans and work shirts every day. I thought it was a relic of her generation — she grew up in the 1960s — but she told me one day that she thought of teaching as hard work and she ought to dress that way. A wise thought.
It's odd how I remember that one thought more clearly than what we were actually discussing in that seminar, though. I cannot quite bring myself to wear overalls to teach, though. I have known teachers to do that, but I
wear khakis and button-ups or polos. It's not that I think that it makes me look more professional or professorial or anything like that. It has more to do with a peculiar little phenomenon I've noticed over the years.
Like most people, students get used to things. They get so used to seeing me in the classroom wearing khakis and button-up shirts that they often don't recognize me when they run into me out in public. The time that this quirk was most noticeable was one time when I ran into a former student in the Gadsden Mall. I had taught this young man for four classes and had
known him for over two years.
I was wearing my “going-to-town” overalls when I spotted him. I waved to him, and he stopped and looked at me quizzically for a couple of seconds. As I walked over, it was obvious that he knew me, but couldn't quite place where he knew me. As soon as I said hello to him, he said, sort of relieved,
“Oh, Mr. Murdock.” He didn't really recognize me until he heard my voice. I get the occasional e-mail from him filling me in on how his college career is proceeding, and he's never forgotten that funny incident.
These days, I warn my students that they won't recognize me in public, and it always amazes both me and them when they don't. Overalls are that powerful; they can make a 6-foot-4, 285-pound man nearly invisible.
That's a neat article. Of course, there's always got to be on in every crowd. I expect RB's hillbilly neighbors to look like this:
