Kathy that IS a funny story.
Human advertisements.

Wanderlust5 said

"Where has the class gone?"

That's what I want to know!

And tenthums you are right. They are two different points I guess, 1. casual (but not sloppy) versus elegant & dressed up

2. Sloppiness & poor taste

I guess we are talking about good taste as well and the ability to know when.

As Tim Gund said "the slovification of America"

Some dressed up people are elegant; others are just dressed up :) (P.S. I think people should know what to wear when, but generally speaking, other than maybe a wedding, I have no problem with nice casual everywhere ....I think "formal night" on a cruise is nuts)

I doubt many men greet them with the same enthusiasm, but there are legions of women out there who adore those cruise "formal nights". It gives them an excuse to wear an evening gown or cocktail dress, without a lot of the anxiety that they have dressing for social events where they know/need to impress people.

persimmondeb, I'm sure you're right, I'm just not one of those "legions" :)

A lot of men (my father included) dress up only to humor their wives. I do think it's sad that so many people are just plain sloppy. I remember as a child having to dress up to go on an airplane; the last flight I took, a young woman was in pajama pants, flip flops and a sweatshirt. I'm all for comfort, but you can be comfortable without being a slob!

tenthumbs, I totally agree - can't bear sloppy, but can take any "style" that's neat (and I also don't want someone's flip-flop-clad toes next to me on an airplane!!).

(As an aside, I was just telling my husband the other night that when my family went to see the <i>movie</i> West Side Story when it opened in 1961, it was treated like a Broadway show - we all got dressed up (as did everyone), there was an intermission where everyone mingled about the lobby, etc. Different times of course).