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Thread: Sociology of the Clothesline

  1. #1

    Sociology of the Clothesline

    Long before Facebook, there was the "clothesline".

    THIS IS FUN TO READ AND QUITE TRUE...WE ARE PROBABLY THE LAST GENERATION THAT WILL REMEMBER WHAT
    A CLOTHESLINE WAS.

    And in lots of places they are illegal. It's the poem at the end that's the best!!!
    THE BASIC RULES FOR CLOTHESLINES: (If you don’t even know what clotheslines are, better skip this.)

    1. You had to hang the socks by the toes... NOT the top.

    2. You hung pants by the BOTTOM/cuffs... NOT the waistbands.

    3. You had to WASH the clothesline(s) before hanging any clothes -
    Walk the entire length of each line with a damp cloth around the lines.

    4. You had to hang the clothes in a certain order, and always hang "whites" with "whites," and hang them first.

    5. You NEVER hung a shirt by the shoulders - always by the tail!
    What would the neighbors think?

    6. Wash day on a Monday! NEVER hang clothes on the weekend,
    Or on Sunday, for Heaven's sake!

    7. Hang the sheets and towels on the OUTSIDE lines so you could
    Hide your "unmentionables" in the middle (perverts & busybodies, y'know!)

    8. It didn't matter if it was sub-zero weather... Clothes would "freeze-dry."

    9. ALWAYS gather the clothes pins when taking down dry clothes!
    Pins left on the lines were "tacky"!

    10. If you were efficient, you would line the clothes up so that each item did not need two clothes pins, but shared one of the clothes pins with the next washed item.

    11. Clothes off of the line before dinner time, neatly folded in the clothes basket, and ready to be ironed. IRONED??!! Well, that's a whole OTHER subject!

    12. Long wooden pole (clothes pole) that was used to push the clotheslines up so that longer items (sheets/pants/etc.) didn't brush the ground and get dirty.
    And now a POEM...

    A clothesline was a news forecast, To neighbours passing by,
    There were no secrets you could keep, When clothes were hung to dry.
    It also was a friendly link, For neighbors always knew
    If company had stopped on by, to spend a night or two.

    For then you'd see the "fancy sheets", And towels upon the line;
    You'd see the "company table cloths", With intricate designs.
    The line announced a baby's birth, From folks who lived inside,
    As brand new infant clothes were hung, So carefully with pride!

    The ages of the children could, So readily be known
    By watching how the sizes changed, You'd know how much they'd grown!
    It also told when illness struck, As extra sheets were hung;
    Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe too, Haphazardly were strung.
    It also said, "On vacation now", When lines hung limp and bare.
    It told, "We're back!" when full lines sagged, With not an inch to spare!
    New folks in town were scorned upon, If wash was dingy and gray,
    As neighbors carefully raised their brows, And looked the other way.

    But clotheslines now are of the past, For dryers make work much less.
    Now what goes on inside a home, Is anybody's guess!
    I really miss that way of life, It was a friendly sign
    When neighbors knew each other best... By what hung on the line.

    -t



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  3. #2
    They're making them illegal? Why? I installed a HEAVY Duty custom made clothesline just last year. The thing is a beast and will be there long after I'm dead and gone.

    My wife thinks we save $25 or so a month. We have a family of 4 for those of you crunching numbers. Clothes off the line are so much softer then dryer clothes.

  4. #3
    This is why people should live in unrestricted neighborhoods or live on enough land that they don't zone for clotheslines. Neighborhood Associations are a violation of private property rights, and most zoning laws are, too. The simple residental or commercial zones are enough.
    #NashvilleStrong

    “I’m a doctor. That’s a baby.”~~~Dr. Manny Sethi

  5. #4
    I am a fan of the clothesline. Long live the clothesline!

  6. #5
    Our dryer broke back in 2003 and there was a 6 month period where we were line drying, and everything that came off that line felt crusty.
    There are no crimes against people.
    There are only crimes against the state.
    And the state will never, ever choose to hold accountable its agents, because a thing can not commit a crime against itself.

  7. #6
    I wanted to put a clothesline up when I first moved in here. Chris vetoed it. In his view, clotheslines were for white trash. In our next place, I will win this one.

  8. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Lindsey View Post
    I wanted to put a clothesline up when I first moved in here. Chris vetoed it. In his view, clotheslines were for white trash. In our next place, I will win this one.
    I don't have a good place for one outside so I installed a small retractable one in the ghetto laundry closet and bought a folding drying rack. Not a lot of space but enough to air dry my delicates and hang the towels and jeans to get mostly dry before running them through he dryer. A great benefit I found to line drying indoors is it keeps the humidity up in your house, especially in the winter.

  9. #8
    Heh. There were 9 kids in my family plus my parents. And so here is how our clothesline ran. It went from the cherry tree to the willow and then from the willow to the maple where it continued to the Chestnut tree and then to the apple tree back to the cherry. And those tres were pretty far apart from one another. And it was one of those double ones. So line on both sides of the tree.



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  11. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by fisharmor View Post
    Our dryer broke back in 2003 and there was a 6 month period where we were line drying, and everything that came off that line felt crusty.
    Was it cold? Were they frozen? LOL. Never had that experience, although maybe if there was something in the water that is different from what I'm used to maybe that could happen?

  12. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Lindsey View Post
    I wanted to put a clothesline up when I first moved in here. Chris vetoed it. In his view, clotheslines were for white trash. In our next place, I will win this one.
    My wife works with higher net worth individuals and they come to our facility. Many of them like the simpleness of it. They'll ask questions. Some even put one up at there place. Especially if they use bed sheets that have been line dried.

  13. #11
    I had a fence post tip in a wind storm. It's now held vertical by a clothes line to a swingset. At least until I get around to asking the neighbor if I can throw some concrete in a hole around the post on their property. Haven't tried the clothes line function yet but might come summer.

  14. #12
    I have been begging for a clothesline since we left Florida, where I had one. The two T poles were already in that house when I bought it. I am afraid that if I put the poles up myself, they would not be straight. I have never put a pole in myself.

    I love the "crusty" stiff feel, and the smell of sun dried clothes is amazing! And stains that won't come out in the washer are no match for the sun. (I do cheat and use fabric softener on the towels though. I don't mind stiff towels, but my kids do, so I decided let them have that.)

    In Indiana, I had a single line retractable, but hanging it between trees didn't get the clothes much sun. And I couldn't make it tight, so it sagged in the middle.

    After 20 years of having brand new poles either in my shed (he left them when we moved) or on my Amazon wish list, he went to WalMart and bought me an umbrella style. I hated it, and made him return it.

    About a month ago, the motor on my dryer broke and I didn't have the $100 for a new one. So I got desperate, and ended up putting a line around the deck. Eyebolts and coated clothesline wire - cost me $8 and I couldn't be happier! It's visually unobtrusive when it's not in use, and my clothes are drying outside. Yay! I probably will get a new dryer before winter though. I've heard you can hang them out all winter, but I don't believe it.

    Hanging shirts by the hem is to keep the shoulders from getting weird little clothespin stretches. But I do hang pants by the waist, especially jeans, because if I don't the waist band can still be wet.

    In Florida, clotheslines are protected as solar devices - HOAs and city ordinances can't override them.

    The only issue I have seems to be animal fur. It always came off in the dryer. Washer, not so much.
    Last edited by angelatc; 05-06-2015 at 09:27 AM.



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