To ask if anyone else’s family had this belief growing up?

[Latenightthoughts111]

NC for this as it seems like all my threads lately have been about my family and don’t want them linked

late night thought tonight is about when I was growing up (late 80s born to a mid 40s born DM) I was told that drinking from a can and eating in the street was like being a prostitute

im not exaggerating I can clearly remember being about 10 and told that walking home from swimming with my hair down and wet and drinking from a can made me look like a prostitute! What was this about?? Where did it come from?? Even now I struggle to drink from a can and I don’t think I ever eat whilst walking!

Born mid 70s to a mid 40s Mum. She didn’t use that phrase, no, but I do remember her saying that when she was young, you might have an ice cream or maybe chips by the seaside, but other than that, definitely no to eating in the street. It was uncouth/common.

My family was dysfunctional in other ways!

Wasn’t given the prostitution analogy but I was told that eating and drinking whilst walking along in public was uncouth. I still don’t do it and I’m 52 now, oh except takeaway coffee which I rarely buy. Have discouraged my children from doing it, too. If eating outside, I find a place to sit down to eat.

My mum was obsessed with prostitutes. Walking home from school once (missed the bus) made her hit the roof, she said people would think I was a prostitute. I was in Year 9, nerdy kid with a long skirt and glasses. She was a fucking nut.

Hanging washing on the radiators was what prostitutes did. All my friends after primary school age were prostitutes.

Yeah. Something weird about those 90s mums.

Not wanting to look like I have wet hair, really

Not my family, but I do remember one of my teachers telling us that it was bad manners to eat in the street. There is, however, a bit of a difference between bad manners and prostitution!

Wouldn't you sit down though or go in a cafe.

I may eat in my car if desperate

I had to go to see the head mistress for a telling off because I was caught walking to school drinking a cup of tea

She never told me off about the wet hair though. I never dried my hair as cohkdnt be arsed. One winter I remember it gojng hard with pre ice on way to school !

Are prozzies well known for eating alfresco? Wtf 😂😂
Never heard this in my life or about drinking out of cans, and my mum had some strange ideas

Eating and drinking on street was definitely bad for me too

This is how I was brought up (not the prostitute thing but definitely considered very common). No smoking or eating or drinking while out and about only while sitting down. Never drink from a can. etc etc. And wet hair = colds

I was told by my mother that wearing a toe ring or anklet made me look like a prostitute. Similar generations. I was once shamed for sitting with my knees apart, aged about 6, and have been uncomfortable sitting with anything other than my legs/ankles crossed ever since!

I was told that only prostitutes have tattoos and street eating was common.

Yes I think this was a thing - or at least some version of it. My mum told us not to eat/drink in the street but the headmistress at school would lecture us repeatedly about it. If anyone was seen doing it in the streets outside school, they’d get their name announced in assembly - shaming. Near where we lived, decades ago, prostitutes ate bags of chips in the street (I did indeed see this happening: tiny skirts, chips, negotiating with kerb crawlers). And not even at night - early evening 😱. So yes I think your mum was relatively accurate.

Times really change, unimaginably. When my mum was a kid, it was illegal for men to be gay! And gay meant happy and joyful. My teens cannot imagine how we managed without mobile phones.

Same as a PP my mother said I couldnt have an anklet because that was something prostitutes would wear. She also hated chewing gum, eating whilst walking down the street etc.

She is a narcissist and would get upset that I had male friends because the neighbours might think I was having sex with them. Once after getting home 10 minutes late she ripped a chunk of my hair out and called me a slag.

If you were caught eating or drinking in the street in school uniform you would get expelled. Allegedly.
Thank god none of teachers noticed us smoking outside the gates.

Wow that’s so awful I’m so sorry this happened to u

Eating and/or drinking in the street was common, ankle chains and more than one set of piercings in an ear made me look like a prostitute. Skirts even remotely above the knee and wearing a top without a bra (not see through or revealing) when I actually didnt really need a bra made me look like a prostitute. You look common or you look like a prostitute were a couple of my Mum's favourite phrases.

Born in the early 50's .... no smoking, drinking or eating in the street; being seen in curlers and a chiffon headscarf in public was horrendously common - it was also very usual for many people though! Chipped nail varnish or a run in your stockings were beyond the pale and as for white shoes - definitely only worn by prostitutes. Oh yes, and making a scene - the shame!! Sadly the latter edict led to my "allowing" myself to be raped at age 12, because I was afraid to make that scene. I feel awfully sorry for that little girl now that I'm an adult who's had years of counselling.

All of these. I’m 70s-born

Red shoes no knickers

Red knickers=slutty

Food: I’m really anti snacking so even now if I were going to indulge, Id hide in the car!
Daily snacking and sweet drinks are IMO the reason why most people now are fat. So the taboo was there for a reason.

Do ye ays?

Yes eating whilst walking along unless it was -an ice cream wtf

Pubs didnt want to go in one they were for alcoholics-this was the 80s

yup that's why it was allowed at school over 16...as i said the expectation was that some of us would attend "posh events' and wear the family jewellery so plain stud were allowed in school.

Yup my nan used to say eating or drinking in the street was common.
ankle chains were for ‘street walkers’ (prostitutes) and my mum still says Louboutins are hooker shoes because of the red soles!! 🤔

I still don't like to see babies and small children with pierced ears....I know in some cultures its the done thing but I still don't like to see it.