Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

407 replies

Latenightthoughts111 · 26/04/2022 04:18

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!

OP posts:
AryaStarkWolf · 26/04/2022 10:13

My mom would never have said prostitute to me as a 10 year old, I wouldn't have known what one was at that age and she wouldn't have wanted me to! Also, never realised there was a stigma about drinking from a can or eating in the street Grin

Giggorata · 26/04/2022 10:22

I also had from my mother that anything other than clear nail polish was vulgar, ladies didn't wear lipstick, or smoke and she didn't like women in jeans, either. This was just before my hippy stage, when I think she gave up in despair.

AryaStarkWolf · 26/04/2022 10:23

What's going on with all the multiple posts today? :/

Changechangychange · 26/04/2022 10:34

AryaStarkWolf · 26/04/2022 10:23

What's going on with all the multiple posts today? :/

I’m getting server errors and then the messages are posting multiple times, ten minutes later when I have moved on to something else…

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 26/04/2022 10:36

Eating in the street was against our school rules for a start, and I don’t think I’d have done it anyway - any spare cash I ever had as a teen was used for other things, e.g. clothes and records, and in any case there wasn’t takeaway food everywhere like there is now.

Drinking out of a can just ‘wasn’t done’ according to my DF, ditto pint glasses for women! I still much prefer a glass and do sometimes have to ask for one in places where they seem to think it’s optional.

Nelliephant1 · 26/04/2022 10:36

No I wasn't told that but there's no way in a zillion years that I'd ever have been allowed to drink from a can OR in the street. I'd have been disowned and I'm not joking. 😏

CatSpeakForDummies · 26/04/2022 10:37

Tbh I think the UK (and US) are unusual at how much we eat while walking or on public transport. It's noticeably not as common in Europe, particularly in cultures where eating still has social and cultural importance.

I used to get a train, for an hours journey mid afternoon and the majority of people loaded up with junk food to see them through the trip. Yes, one or two might have missed lunch but for most it was just what you do on a train, crisps, chocolate and coke.

I kind of wish we had better attitudes to food (and litter) here. Not threatening children with prostitution attitudes, but just a bit less graze-y.

CatSpeakForDummies · 26/04/2022 10:37

Tbh I think the UK (and US) are unusual at how much we eat while walking or on public transport. It's noticeably not as common in Europe, particularly in cultures where eating still has social and cultural importance.

I used to get a train, for an hours journey mid afternoon and the majority of people loaded up with junk food to see them through the trip. Yes, one or two might have missed lunch but for most it was just what you do on a train, crisps, chocolate and coke.

I kind of wish we had better attitudes to food (and litter) here. Not threatening children with prostitution attitudes, but just a bit less graze-y.

CatSpeakForDummies · 26/04/2022 10:37

Tbh I think the UK (and US) are unusual at how much we eat while walking or on public transport. It's noticeably not as common in Europe, particularly in cultures where eating still has social and cultural importance.

I used to get a train, for an hours journey mid afternoon and the majority of people loaded up with junk food to see them through the trip. Yes, one or two might have missed lunch but for most it was just what you do on a train, crisps, chocolate and coke.

I kind of wish we had better attitudes to food (and litter) here. Not threatening children with prostitution attitudes, but just a bit less graze-y.

CatSpeakForDummies · 26/04/2022 10:37

Tbh I think the UK (and US) are unusual at how much we eat while walking or on public transport. It's noticeably not as common in Europe, particularly in cultures where eating still has social and cultural importance.

I used to get a train, for an hours journey mid afternoon and the majority of people loaded up with junk food to see them through the trip. Yes, one or two might have missed lunch but for most it was just what you do on a train, crisps, chocolate and coke.

I kind of wish we had better attitudes to food (and litter) here. Not threatening children with prostitution attitudes, but just a bit less graze-y.

CatSpeakForDummies · 26/04/2022 10:37

Tbh I think the UK (and US) are unusual at how much we eat while walking or on public transport. It's noticeably not as common in Europe, particularly in cultures where eating still has social and cultural importance.

I used to get a train, for an hours journey mid afternoon and the majority of people loaded up with junk food to see them through the trip. Yes, one or two might have missed lunch but for most it was just what you do on a train, crisps, chocolate and coke.

I kind of wish we had better attitudes to food (and litter) here. Not threatening children with prostitution attitudes, but just a bit less graze-y.

caringcarer · 26/04/2022 10:37

My Mum and Gran used to say only rude uncouth people eat in the street, like tramps. Anyone wearing an ankle bracelet must be a prostitute and wearing a very short skirt or boob tube was only one step away from prostitution. Platform shoes were made by the devil too.

CatSpeakForDummies · 26/04/2022 10:37

Tbh I think the UK (and US) are unusual at how much we eat while walking or on public transport. It's noticeably not as common in Europe, particularly in cultures where eating still has social and cultural importance.

I used to get a train, for an hours journey mid afternoon and the majority of people loaded up with junk food to see them through the trip. Yes, one or two might have missed lunch but for most it was just what you do on a train, crisps, chocolate and coke.

I kind of wish we had better attitudes to food (and litter) here. Not threatening children with prostitution attitudes, but just a bit less graze-y.

CatSpeakForDummies · 26/04/2022 10:37

Tbh I think the UK (and US) are unusual at how much we eat while walking or on public transport. It's noticeably not as common in Europe, particularly in cultures where eating still has social and cultural importance.

I used to get a train, for an hours journey mid afternoon and the majority of people loaded up with junk food to see them through the trip. Yes, one or two might have missed lunch but for most it was just what you do on a train, crisps, chocolate and coke.

I kind of wish we had better attitudes to food (and litter) here. Not threatening children with prostitution attitudes, but just a bit less graze-y.

CatSpeakForDummies · 26/04/2022 10:37

Tbh I think the UK (and US) are unusual at how much we eat while walking or on public transport. It's noticeably not as common in Europe, particularly in cultures where eating still has social and cultural importance.

I used to get a train, for an hours journey mid afternoon and the majority of people loaded up with junk food to see them through the trip. Yes, one or two might have missed lunch but for most it was just what you do on a train, crisps, chocolate and coke.

I kind of wish we had better attitudes to food (and litter) here. Not threatening children with prostitution attitudes, but just a bit less graze-y.

orbitalcrisis · 26/04/2022 10:41

I think that really depends on what your hair was wet with.... Jizz leave-in conditioner...?

orbitalcrisis · 26/04/2022 10:41

I think that really depends on what your hair was wet with.... Jizz leave-in conditioner...?

nonamehere · 26/04/2022 10:41

Comedycook · 26/04/2022 08:51

I absolutely hate having wet hair in public...it just screams "I'm stressed and can't cope"

My parents wouldn't have approved of this in case I 'caught my death of cold'. Now I'm in my sixties it doesn't mean I'm stressed, it means I've been swimming and the hairdryers at the pool were removed because of covid!

nonamehere · 26/04/2022 10:47

This reply has been withdrawn

Duplicate post

Deathraystare · 26/04/2022 10:50

My mum still thinks it's vulgar and can't quite understand the appeal of eating a Greggs sausage roll from the wrapper in public.

I have been known to eat and drink at bus stops. Including eating a lush Greggs. But then I am common!!!!

Fizbosshoes · 26/04/2022 10:50

I often go out with wet hair, I didn't realise it signified anything other than I washed it recently and hadn't dried it? Blush

orbitalcrisis · 26/04/2022 10:50

I think that really depends on what your hair was wet with.... Jizz leave-in conditioner...?

Rondvassbu · 26/04/2022 10:50

I wasn't allowed to drink out of a can anywhere because I might cut my mouth.
Eating and drinking in the street was "common" and "uncouth".
Wet hair after swimming would mean I would "catch my death of cold" or "catch pneumonia and die".
Those were my parents' rules.

And I also went to a private girls' school like many others on this thread and it was forbidden to eat or drink in the street in uniform because it was uncouth and not befitting of the school's reputation. Everyone was terrified to try it in case they got found out and bollocked.
There were frequent assemblies on the matter with the "shocked" headmistress relating tales of how girls had been seen eating sweets at the metro station and apparently members of the public had phoned the school and complained.

Rondvassbu · 26/04/2022 10:51

I wasn't allowed to drink out of a can anywhere because I might cut my mouth.
Eating and drinking in the street was "common" and "uncouth".
Wet hair after swimming would mean I would "catch my death of cold" or "catch pneumonia and die".
Those were my parents' rules.

And I also went to a private girls' school like many others on this thread and it was forbidden to eat or drink in the street in uniform because it was uncouth and not befitting of the school's reputation. Everyone was terrified to try it in case they got found out and bollocked.
There were frequent assemblies on the matter with the "shocked" headmistress relating tales of how girls had been seen eating sweets at the metro station and apparently members of the public had phoned the school and complained.

Scooby5kids · 26/04/2022 10:51

80's child born to 50's born adults here... I was told that I can't wear ankle chains or bracelets because apparently that's a prostitute sign too. Wtf? 🤣🙄