Why was it inappropriate for a child to rebuckle his knickerbockers below the knee?

[bbernardini]

You "Music Man" fans will know what I'm talking about. I've always wondered this, though. What was the reason for this being unacceptable?

[LisaM]

1. I'm sure it was part of the short pants/long pants divide

Longer pants were a sign of being older, and you couldn't wear long pants till you were a certain age. So a boy who did that would be trying to look older.

Same for girls - as they got older, their skirts got longer and their hair went up!

[swimboy]

2. but when they start to memorize jokes from Cap'n Billy's Whizbang

that everything has gone to hell.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

11. Cap'n Billy's Whizbang was a magazine for boys

published in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, which is now a suburb of Minneapolis. (I know this because I lived in Robbinsdale for a while.)

[AllegroRondo]

3. Yes, we've got Trouble!

right here in River City.
with a capital T
and that rhymes with P
and that stands for Pool!

[kwassa]

4. Any fool can take and shove a ball in a pocket, and call that suave.

[jmowreader]

5. And then they're tryin' out Bevo...

trying out Cubebs, tryin' Tailor Mades like cigarette fiends.

uhhh....according to http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/c/cubeb121.html , cubebs are used to treat gonorrhea. So THAT'S what's wrong with them...

Bevo is a near beer, and tailor-mades are factory-made cigarettes.

[raccoon]

6. Quite the snake-oil salesman Harold Hill was.

If he were around today, he'd probably be a televangelist.

[poiuytsister]

8. Whatayatalk whatayatalk whatayatalk whatayatalk

[Bicoastal]

10. You can talk/You can talk/You can bicker/You can talk

You can talk talk talk talk/bicker bicker bicker

You can talk all you want/but it's different than it was


(Your line.)

[edbermac]

7. Dunno, but Shirley Jones was pretty hot.

[deadparrot]

9. I totally just watched that movie this weekend.

Campy goodness. :)

[realisticphish]

12. trying to be more mature, i suppose

and yes, as the son of a music teacher, i knew EXACTLY what you were talking about

[havocmom]

13. First tryin to turn their knickerbockers into long trousers....

pretty soon they'll be peaking at the Ladies Axillary practicin' their Grecian Urns and meeting librarians at the foot-bridge!