“life is very short and there’s no time / for fussing and fighting my friend”

[larryhammer]

I’m an aloha shirt kind of guy. Not all of my wardrobe is brightly floral—I need a few more subdued patterns for less informal occasions, such as starting work in an office where I haven’t confirmed aloha is acceptable business casual wear. But a fair number are, most of them tasteful.

This is mostly by temperament—they signal (though let me asterisk that * ) a laid-back temperament, which is both true and helps me through interactions with strangers. Mostly, as there’s also a practical component. I’ve mentioned this a couple times, but I come across IRL as taller than I do online: I’m 6'4" / 193cm. Finding men’s short-sleeve shirts that are long enough for my torso to stay tucked in is a challenge. (Paradoxically, it’s easier with long-sleeve shirts, as “long” sizes is a thing for those.) Aloha shirts, however, are designed to not be tucked in, and indeed look worse that way. Win!

But then there’s that asterisk: * I’m graying enough, both hair and goatee (which last I’ve been keeping for two years now), that I can sometimes be misidentified as a Boomer, and a Boomer in an aloha shirt signals a different temperament than a younger guy in one. I’m lean enough I don’t entirely lean into that stereotype, but still. I’m older Gen X and … touchy … about being mistaken for a Boomer.

The goatee is starting to annoy me in other ways, anyway, so maybe shaving it will help—it has the most white. Or I could, yanno, suck it up and deal. Be laid-back. Just like the shirts claim.

---L.

Subject quote from We Can Work It Out, The Beatles.

Comments

[thistleingrey]

We (Gen X) will outlast the negative Boomer stereotypes--if nothing else, by vanishing further as pundits shift to commenting exclusively about millennials and Gen Z. In any case, do people tend to see you f2f without interacting, in contexts where you'd care, or do they and you interact at all? If the latter, your body language dispels risk of Boomer-aloha pretty quickly, I think. (We chatted f2f at Sirens one year, though I've forgotten exactly which year.)

Annnnd--for people of an age to worry about Boomer-aloha, we and those Boomers are "the same age" anyway, no matter how non-graying, so it doesn't matter. If that helps. :)

[sartorias]

Or you can go to a good colorist. Heaven forfend you be taken for an evil, no-good reprehensible Boomer, *cackle cackle*

[larryhammer]

I could. I've resisted because, among other things, I suspect that it'll look colored -- some people, no matter how good a job it is, it just doesn't look natural on them -- and being obvious about trying to look younger would be worse. Plus of course maintaining it seems like more bother than it's ultimately worth.

But yes, I could.

[larryhammer]

It was one of the first Sirens, in Oregon -- Reason was a toddler and Eaglet wasn't.

And true about "the same age" -- we've met that in Eaglet's cohort.

[cmcmck]

I AM a boomer as it happens! :op