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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think pants shouldn't be on the washing line if you have guests?

148 replies

midsummercat · 20/06/2021 15:35

I attended a BBQ at a colleague's house this weekend (in the garden obviously) and I thought it was a bit strange because his pants were on the washing line in full view of everyone. I felt a bit embarrassed about it but he didn't seem phased. There were about 10 other people from work there.

Maybe I'm a bit odd, but I wouldn't put my underwear on the washing line if i have people over. AIBU? Confused

OP posts:
GintyMcGinty · 20/06/2021 16:22

His breeks will be stinking of burgers.

RedToothBrush · 20/06/2021 16:24

How do you cope if you walk down the men's underwear shelf in the supermarket?

Do you start fantasise about who is going to buy them and wear them???

I bet you don't

So why do you start to do this about a pair of pants on the washing line and feel embarassed???

Or are you trying to check them out for skid marks?

Very odd. They are pants. Functional clothing.

Don't get it.

TimeIhadaNameChange · 20/06/2021 16:25

The first time I washed my csp ww had guests coming. I was going to hang them on the radiator in the bedroom put of sight.

When I got home it transpired that DP.had pipped home at lunchtime, hung all the washing on the line and the guests had already arrived and would have walked past them to get to the house.

Nobody died.

cariadlet · 20/06/2021 16:25

I would think it was really weird to have any washing on the line. If a friend called round unexpectedly or messaged to say that they were going to be in the area and could they pop round, then I wouldn't bother to bring the washing in.

But if I was inviting people round then I wouldn't have washing on the line just as if I was inviting people round for a meal, I would tidy the house before they came.

And if I go to a friend's house for a prearranged bbq or party in the garden then I don't really want to look at their underwear. I don't think that's prudish or pearl clutching.

Kona84 · 20/06/2021 16:25

I bet you drew more attention to it by staring at it.
Not sure why you’d be embarrassed for someone else who clearly doesn’t mind.
It would just be like having swimming items out

teenagetantrums · 20/06/2021 16:26

I think it's werid to leave your washing on the line when you are having a BBQ..l wouldn't want my clothes smelling of bqq
I also wouldn't want all my work colleagues looking at my pants drying .

GelfBride · 20/06/2021 16:26

Did they have, 'Little choppers beat the whoppers', written on them?

MustardRose · 20/06/2021 16:26
aibubaby · 20/06/2021 16:27

This thread is unintentionally hilarious, thanks OP.

Reminds me of when I was chatting to a next door neighbour over the fence and his (v grumpy) wife came BARRELLING out of the house to pull the washing off the line silently and angrily as though I'd seen their sex tape and not their tea towels. I was very confused until I realised I was standing with a wash full of knickers, socks, and even - shock - fancy lingerie on the line behind me and this might have been a not-so-subtle dig at me to stop being such a washing line slag.

Nowt as queer as folk eh?

Soontobe60 · 20/06/2021 16:27

I never hang out my underwear… my bras are huge! All underwear goes in the dryer - dh hates his pants being stiff if they have been line dried.

Threewheeler1 · 20/06/2021 16:29

Oooh this reminds me of my Mum. She lives in the middle of nowhere, overlooking fields and sheep.
I was staying at hers with the kids and I did a big wash for everyone, including my 93 year old Nan who lived there too, and hung it all on the line. Lots of very big pants in there.
Mum saw me through the kitchen window and came rushing out just as I'd finished to tell me that pants have to go right at the end, under the tree, because they're less visible there. You have to climb over tree stumps, old chairs and crap to get them to the hiding place for titillating items.
But the best bit was "gussets facing north", away from the house, just in case of passing frisky folk or gentlemen visitors, none of which I've ever seen near her house.
They'd have to be off-roading through a few massive ditches, a ton of sheep and a brambly copse to get a look into the back garden.

She's really picky about stuff like loading the dishwasher, laying the table etc etc but I had no idea about the washing rules.
Anyway "gussets north" has become our motto when hanging out the washing now.

I'd probably (most definitely) take my pants in though if people were coming round. They aren't exactly visually pleasing. Be a bit disconcerting having them flap around whilst entertaining people in the garden.

LakieLady · 20/06/2021 16:29

I wouldn't leave washing out if I had guests, but it wouldn't bother me if someone else did.

And the weather's so variable, people have to grab any opportunity to get stuff dry, so I can understand it.

kowari · 20/06/2021 16:29

I wouldn't have any washing out if I was having a bbq as it's just going to smell like smoke. Otherwise, if I was just having a drink in my garden then I don't see anything wrong with clean laundry on display.

KrisAkabusi · 20/06/2021 16:30

People here are weird. Of course there's nothing wrong with it. They're just clothes.

GreyhoundG1rl · 20/06/2021 16:30

The first time I washed my csp ww had guests coming.
Washed your what?

BluebellsGreenbells · 20/06/2021 16:31

I wouldn’t expect to see washing at a bbq.

Show last a lack of awareness.

Oldraver · 20/06/2021 16:31

Its odd of you to be embarrassed by clean pants

aibubaby · 20/06/2021 16:32

@GreyhoundG1rl

The first time I washed my csp ww had guests coming. Washed your what?
I googled and I think it's 'cloth sanitary pads'?
3scape · 20/06/2021 16:32

Other than the smoke/ bbq/ clean clothes issue I am Hmm how uptight do you have to be?

Your colleague wanted to do a nice thing, share downtime, share a meal. But obviously you're an ungrateful guest. Did you thank him? Did you take a gift? Did you offer to host in return?

khakiandcoral · 20/06/2021 16:32

Its' weird to expose your laundry when you have guests, in the garden or in the middle of your living room, but each to their own. Some people are a bit scruffy.

I wouldn't put my kids underwear on the line either, my eldest might get embarrassed (or teased) by her sibling's friend, but apart from that.

GreyhoundG1rl · 20/06/2021 16:33

😂 at gussets north! My long, narrow garden has the line going lengthways, no hiding the gussets in this house. Thank God for high fences or I'd be forced to choose which neighbour to scandalise.

LH1987 · 20/06/2021 16:34

I think it’s weird to have any washing out, the specifics of pants wouldn’t be an issue.

2old2beamum · 20/06/2021 16:34

I love seeing my knickers fluttering in the breeze Blush.

BlackberrySky · 20/06/2021 16:34

I never put knickers on the line myself, nor do I ever keep washing out on the line if we have guests. I don't really care if someone else does, I just don't know anyone who would.

stupidstupider · 20/06/2021 16:35

I hang my pants in the middle of the whirly gig, then long stuff, then short stuff. I like to think it airs things faster. Would all be in for a bbq though, or if I was expecting visitors. Would not gather laundry wildly if someone called in though.