Article posted Thursday, September 23, 2010 1:00pm

Dear Miss Manners,

What’s with the short pants! I mean, just about every guy is wearing short pants to the grocery store, the boat dock, the restaurant, the open house at the bankrupt condo project. I suspect we will see short pants at the funeral home.

There was a time when men wore long pants, ladies wore skirts and you could tell one from another. The graphics at the rest rooms told you which room was for which sex. Nowadays, who could pick which sign for which sex, with all these men wearing cutoff jeans and the women in denims that scrape the pavement.

I’m against it but always defer to your comment. What do you think of these apparel affronts to customary clothing?

Signed,

Myron Mottomoth

Valmy, WI

Dear Myron,

This crazy new trend you first referred to is called shorts. In the summer months, it can get very hot here and people need to avoid having heat stroke, so they dress for the weather. There is also a new fangled item called capri pants. With capris, the cuff of the pants comes to about mid-calf and are mainly for women and metrosexual men.

To end your suspense, I must say that I do fully approve of both shorts and capris in the summer time. What I don’t approve of is sloppy dressing in any season with either sex. I also think that sometimes shorts can be too short and not much is left to the imagination.

I haven’t seen too many androgynous-looking people around the county, and I haven’t witnessed any women accidentally going into the men’s bathroom and vice versa. However, I am with you that people should dress well and for the occasion. I was just at a wedding not too long ago where a man came in a bright yellow tee shirt and drawstring shorts. It took everything I had not to ask him what, if anything, was he thinking when he dressed for a church wedding.

If it is any consolation, we are now approaching our colder seasons, and I doubt that you will see too many shorts or capris until May. Poor fashion choices, unfortunately, are a year round occurrence.

Good luck,

Mary Pat