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Wearing a Tie May Cause Blindness!

An anonymous reader noted that there finally is some science to justify not wearing a tie! Doctors have found that wearing a tie too tight causes pressure on the jugular vein, which leads to a build-up of pressure in the eyeballs. Such pressure rises have been linked to glaucoma, which causes blindness. Now, if only some kind researchers could get us all out of wearing pants at the office, we'd be set!

54 of 441 comments (clear)

  1. more than you bargained for... by sweeney37 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Now, if only some kind researchers could get us all out of wearing pants at the office, we'd be set!

    I'd just like to remind you, you're the one working with CowboyNeal, not us.

    Mike

    1. Re:more than you bargained for... by Latent+IT · · Score: 5, Funny

      Thanks to working with IT people, I can assure you, the patterns on the ties these people pick out are far more damaging to my eyesight than any pressure on my jugular vein, thanks.

  2. Fuck pantlessness, let us smoke pot by Hairy_Potter · · Score: 5, Funny

    I work with lots of fat, pasty software devs, I'd rather not see them pantless.

    If we could take pot-breaks to combat blindness, well, now you're talking.

  3. as by radja · · Score: 5, Funny

    for wearing pants: they're optional. you are also allowed to wear a skirt, kilt or dress.

    --

    No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness.
    --Sheikh Abd-Al-Kadir, 1587
    1. Re:as by TheMidget · · Score: 4, Funny

      Do you have to wear underwear under your kilt?

    2. Re:as by GnuVince · · Score: 5, Funny

      Only if your reputation would be totally destroyed if your genitals were exposed

    3. Re:as by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      "Nothing is worn under a kilt. It's all in perfect working order."

    4. Re:as by interiot · · Score: 4, Funny

      A more appropriate question would be: What are you wearing under your kilt? And the answer: shoes!

    5. Re:as by csteinle · · Score: 3, Informative

      If it's a rental, yes. You don't know where it's been.

      If it's your's, it's optional. Personally, I find the wool of the tartan can chafe, so I usually do. Particularly when attending weddings, as there can be alot of dancing involved.

      (As a side issue, always remember to move your sporran before dancing. A bouncing sporran can cause undue wincing.)

      Oh, and kilts are babe magnets.

    6. Re:as by SmoothOperator · · Score: 3, Informative
      Ah, you're not a real Scotsman then. Didn't your momma tell you to saw a square of silk to the inside of the front of the kilt? Perfect solution to the chaffing problem, plus its sanitary as well!

      --

      Veni, vidi, vici.

  4. Pants(American) or Pants(British) by ninthwave · · Score: 4, Funny

    I rarely were pants(British) to the office. No one ever seems to notice here.

    --
    I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said: "I drank what?" - Chris Knight (Val Kilmer)- Real Genius
    1. Re:Pants(American) or Pants(British) by pommiekiwifruit · · Score: 3, Funny
      ...you would realize that British idioms are more common in International English...

      Not that one. In New Zealand anyway, Pants are slacks/trousers, whilst underpants/gruts are y-fronts/boxers/jockeys/slips/briefs. But we wear shorts anyway (traditionally green shorts, black singlet ("vest" to pommies), black gumboots (although kids are wearing fancy colours these days) and probably a floppy cotton hat).

    2. Re:Pants(American) or Pants(British) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Werepants?

      Is that some kind of horrible pant-based creature that can only be destroyed by silver scissors?

  5. No problem here... by TopShelf · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It would be interesting to find out what portion of /. readers where ties regularly. I'd guess the figure would be very low, somewhere under 5%. When I got my first office job back in 1986, wearing ties every day was the norm. In my case, that changed around 1994 (thank goodness)...

    --
    Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
    1. Re:No problem here... by echucker · · Score: 5, Funny

      Smells like a new poll idea to me....

      "What do you wear to work?"
      Suit
      Shirt, tie, and slacks
      Polos and khakis
      T-shirt and jeans
      Shorts and sandals
      I telecommute, you insensitive clod!
      I left my clothes at CowboyNeal's last night

    2. Re:No problem here... by procifer · · Score: 5, Funny

      let's just be honest,
      if you telecommute, it's pretty much guaranteed you work naked; well, it'd be stupid not to.

    3. Re:No problem here... by Troed · · Score: 4, Funny

      Their's no point in bullying them for they're bad grammar! There people too!

  6. only if it's too tight though... by buro9 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... so providing you wear a looser necked shirt and tie... there's no reason to actually not wear a tie.

    not quite the strength of argument for me to bash my boss with health and safety law!

    1. Re:only if it's too tight though... by TopShelf · · Score: 4, Informative

      That's the amazing thing - the majority of guys don't really wear shirts that fit correctly. Either they just don't have the time/care to make sure, or vanity (this used to fit) gets in the way...

      --
      Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
    2. Re:only if it's too tight though... by bear_phillips · · Score: 4, Informative

      You are right. But can anyone answer this. Whenever I go to get a suit, the salesman always picks a shirt that seems to be way to tight in the neck. I have to basically tell him I don't care what size he thinks I need and get a larger neck size. Is having a tight fit around the neck considered in fashion?

      --
      http://www.windmeadow.com/
    3. Re:only if it's too tight though... by mjmalone · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think we can all agree that anything that shortens your life/causes disease is in fashion.

    4. Re:only if it's too tight though... by CyberKnet · · Score: 3, Funny

      I would pay to see/hear someone trying to say "Move the tape measure down" while they were inhaling. Let alone while their mouth was in the shape of an O. *Then* taking a deep breath.

      Calamity Ensues.

      P.S> If the measurements with the tape measure "down" are .5-1.5" bigger than your neck measurement, you either have a pencil neck or ....

      --
      Video meliora proboque deteriora sequor - Ovidius
  7. Er... by Obiwan+Kenobi · · Score: 3, Funny

    Now, if only some kind researchers could get us all out of wearing pants at the office, we'd be set!

    Judging by the general clientele of slashdot, myself included, I'm hoping that this never comes to pass.

    Think of the co-workers, I tell you.

    Remember kids: Graphic, disturbing images can cause hysterical blindness.

  8. Paid for by the Clinton Foundation by AtariAmarok · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Now, if only some kind researchers could get us all out of wearing pants at the office, we'd be set! "

    Researches funded by the William Jefferson Clinton Foundation are feverishly working on this one, don't worry.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  9. Makes sense... by Dr.+Bent · · Score: 5, Funny

    I guess this explains why most CEO's can't see past next quarter's earnings report. If only the corporate culture at Worldcom and Enron was a little bit more casual...

  10. Obligatory Simpsons' quote by proverbialcow · · Score: 5, Funny

    "I hope he tells us to burn our pants, cause these things are really riding up on me."

    and later on...

    "Don't you hate pants?!"

    pcow

    --
    The only surefire protection against Microsoft infections is abstinence. - The Onion
  11. uhoh by falconed · · Score: 5, Funny
    let's see... wearing a tie makes you go blind...

    *takes off his belt*

    --
    USE='clever' emerge -u sig
  12. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  13. Ooh! Free negation of badness? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Soo.. since I wear no tie, I have in practice "negated" the blinding effect of masturbation?!

    Or was that... <checks palms>

  14. This just in! by nuwayser · · Score: 4, Funny

    Keeping Your Pants On Curbs Population Growth!

    Wearing Wedding Rings Makes Fingers Fall Off!

    Squeezing Stress Balls May Aggrevate Repetitive Stress Disorders!

    Cleaning Your Keyboard Can Extend Your Lifespan!

    Wearing Dress Shoes Sucks!

    Reading Slashdot Constantly Can Lead To Blindness!

    --
    "The cup... the drop... it's a YES!"
  15. Re:No Pants? by PhoenixK7 · · Score: 5, Funny

    "I would gauge my eyes out."

    How does one do that? Is it like checking eyeball fluid pressure?

  16. Small point but .. by Mr_Silver · · Score: 5, Interesting
    .. wearing anything too tight can damage you in some way.

    This is possibly one of the most useless bits of "research" for a while and i'm amazed it didn't come out of a UK university.

    My old Uni announced to a great fanfare that they had provded that "the smell of food made people hungry". Another one was that "people look fatter on television than they really are".

    --
    Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
  17. Pants-free working place, a casual wear? by Bostik · · Score: 3, Funny

    Casual friday all week long?

    I could live with that...

    --
    There is no such thing as good luck. There is only misfortune and its occasional absence.
  18. Also by Znonymous+Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Women wearing shirts and bras will get breast cancer. Please consider removing them ASAP to help cure cancer!

    --

    Karma: The shiznight, mostly because I am the Drizzle.

  19. Get a decent one by shplorb · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I recently purchased myself a suit, it is properly fitted for me. Consequently it is very comfortable to wear and I enjoy wearing it with a tie. Another advantage is that girls like men in suits. =]

    One thing that I have found is that the combination of the shirt collar and tie encourage me to sit with correct posture, otherwise I can feel them cutting into my throat. This is a good thing.

    Of course, you could always wear a 'clip-on' tie or bow-tie (how come I only see doctors wear them?) which also have certain personal safety benefits - like not having to worry about being killed/maimed if it gets caught in a shredder =]

    1. Re:Get a decent one by pclminion · · Score: 5, Funny
      I don't see how "very comfortable to wear" and "feel them cutting into my throat" are compatible statements.

      I'm just glad management wears ties. It's something to strangle the fuckers with if I see the need.

  20. Re:Wearing a dress at work freaks my cow-orkers by bsDaemon · · Score: 4, Funny

    what does cow orking entail, anyway? it sounds rather naughty.

  21. Programmer uniform by BobRooney · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is why I love being a programmer at a little company: my "corporate uniform" typically includes a hawaiian(sp?) shirt, shorts, and sandals (with or without socks). The more tacky the shirt the better; it screams "I sit in front of a computer all day and I love it!"...unfortunately it also screams "I'm single and have no burning desire to attract women". On occasion you'll be suprised and women won't run away screaming upon seeing your tacky polyester hawaiian shirt...

  22. So get a bigger collar size by mblase · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Wearing your tie too tight could put you at increased risk of blindness, say doctors."

    So buy some shirts with an extra half-inch in the collar, guys.

    Y'know, current trends in fashion notwithstanding, I like neckties. They break up an otherwise monotonous dress shirt, and give us white-collar male workers an easy way to add some multi-colored style to our two-color uniform. They just plain look professional. And they're only uncomfortable if you're wearing them wrong, or if your collar is too small.

    1. Re:So get a bigger collar size by (trb001) · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Actually, in some ways I agree. I enjoy wearing ties to semi-formal occasions as I feel it fits the event, but I wouldn't choose to just sit around the house in one. That's the problem I have with wearing them to work...there's really not a big difference between a developer sitting in his cube hacking out code and me sitting around the house watching tv. Whatever makes you comfortable is the way to go, so if you're comfortable sitting straight up, go for it...not me though.

      --trb

  23. Re:No Pants? by jcsehak · · Score: 4, Funny

    Mister taco, If you came to my office with no pants on I think I would gauge my eyes out.

    "Woah, Taco's in my office with no pants!
    ...hmm, 38mm... hey! They're not bigger at all! Cartoons lie!"

    --

    c-hack.com |
  24. Re:Pants are the problem... by ChristTrekker · · Score: 3, Funny
    Just say no to Tighty Whities.

    You are advocating thongs, then?

  25. Pants, Ties, Polo shirts etc... by Dukebytes · · Score: 3, Insightful
    i agree with Taco - by saying "pants" im sure he means "slacks, or dockers etc...". i HATE pants - the company that i work for allows colored jeans and polo shirts. i wear (dont laugh) black jeans to work every day...

    i think that the IT industry should come up with a dress code that actually lets you crawl around on the floor under a desk etc... that makes some stinkin sense.

    a T-shirt, jeans, sneakers and some sort of smock or whatever its called. Like the ones that they wear in the hospitals etc... and they would have to be nice jeans and sneakers. not the shit you have left over from high school with your ass sticking out and sneakers that are no longer the original color that they were purchased as...

    and im SERIOUS!!! i think that this should become a norm... i hate being in the data center and working on the UPS or racks or up in the ceiling with light colored polo shirt on that i spent 30 bucks for. when im done - its done. im sure this has happened to everyone. it pisses me off. the wife bitches that she cant get it clean etc...

    and i dont care if its "professional" or not. im a "professional" no matter what im wearing - and wouldnt it be nice if you could be comfortable all the time???

    /rant off... sorry i get a little wired when i talk about workplace clothing... :)

    duke

    --

    FreeBSD: Nothing runs like a daemon with a pitch fork.
  26. Great Scott.... by ryanvm · · Score: 3, Funny

    Now, if only some kind researchers could get us all out of wearing pants at the office, we'd be set!

    As this time-travelling picture from the year 2006 shows, the pantsless office policy at Slashdot was not such a great idea.

  27. Re:Glaucoma huh? by hetairoi · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'd gladly wear a tie if they'd let me get high at work. Of course, at that point it would likely be a Grateful Dead tie worn around my head to keep my long, luxurious hippy hair out of my eyes.

    --
    you're all figments of my deranged imagination
  28. Re:Dress code by danny256 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Currently I'm unemployed by choice.

    Right, right, I bet you also don't have a girlfriend by choice.

  29. Re:wearing pants? by IANAAC · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think in general, dress-code has relaxed everywhere. When I was a kid my dad worked for an airline, which meant we could fly basically free. The catch was that we could not wear jeans. We had to wear slacks. Boy has THAT rule been relaxed. I look at what people wear on a plane now and think all americans are slobs. I've seen bathing suits and flip-flops on international flights. I realize when we travel we want to be comfortable, but it would be nice to have a happy medium. We're not in our living room, after all... we're out in public.

  30. First masturbation, now this! by elliotj · · Score: 4, Funny

    Geez, is there anything I can do that doesn't make me go blind!?!

  31. Let me get this straight... by HerbalSpiderMonkey · · Score: 5, Funny

    Recently, we have heard that:

    1. Masturbating keeps your prostate healthy.

    2. Eating pizza helps prevent cancer

    3. Not wearing a tie can preserve your eyesight

    Bout time we had a run of good news :D

  32. What is a tie? by mummers · · Score: 5, Funny

    Surely it is nothing more than an arrow directing your co-workers in the direction of your genitalia.
    I'm not sure what this says about people who wear bowties...

    --
    --This isn't a man who is leaving with his head between his legs.
  33. umm... by MachineShedFred · · Score: 4, Funny

    Wait!

    Did you just ask about fashion tips on Slashdot?

    ARE YOU INSANE!?!?

    --
    Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
  34. Conformist behavior by dark-br · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I remember starting a job and having my first all-hands meeting with that employer. The boss informed us that a couple VIPs were coming the next day and he wanted all the men to wear ties and all the women to wear dresses. After the boss left I mentioned to the woman sitting next to me that I wasn't going to wear a tie because I didn't wear ties and the company had no dress policy. She looked at me in disbelief and insisted that I was going to wear a tie. When I again stated that I didn't wear ties I saw a vein nearly pop in her forehead. Her blood pressure nearly doubled.

    "We'll see about that" she said with an angry look on her face as she ran to the boss' office to tell him of my criminal behavior. I walked over to the office and popped my head in the door.

    "The secretary says you won't be wearing a tie tomorrow" he stated with one eyebrow raised.

    "Sorry, but I don't wear ties" I replied.

    "Okay, I didn't hire you for your looks and thanks for letting me know" he smiled.

    The secretary nearly passed out when I didn't get the death penalty for not wearing a tie. Till this day I have never seen conformist behavior quite like that.

  35. Necktie Origins by heli0 · · Score: 3, Interesting


    In 1660, in celebration of its hard-fought victory over Turkey, a crack regiment from Croatia (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) visited Paris. There, the soldiers were presented as glorious heros to Louis XIV, a monarch well known for his eye toward personal adornment. It so happened that the officers of this regiment were wearing brightly colored handkerchiefs fashioned of silk around their necks. These neck cloths, which probably descended from the Roman fascalia worn by orators to warm the vocal chords, struck the fancy of the king, and he soon made them an insignia of royalty as he created a regiment of Royal Cravattes. The word 'cravat', incidentally, is derived from the word 'Croat'. It wasn't long before this new style crossed the channel to England. Soon no gentleman would have considered himself well dressed without sporting some sort of cloth around his neck -- the more decorative, the better.
    --
    Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way...
  36. Kilts by Jim+Hall · · Score: 3, Interesting

    for wearing pants: they're optional. you are also allowed to wear a skirt, kilt or dress.

    I own two kilts, and I do wear them to work sometimes. For casual wear, great for summer weather, buy a Utilikilt. They're not very expensive. Check out these Top 10 Reasons for Wearing a Kilt.

    Afraid you'll look silly in something that looks like a skirt? Don't be. Wearing a kilt shows a sense of security with yourself, and you will inspire much debate in others.

    Overweight? Not a problem. Order one with a Beer Gut Cut. The beer gut cut is for guys who carry a little extra weight down in front. You can order a single, or double (God help you), beer gut cut.