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Comment by reaperducer | Hacker News Reader

Unless I'm at the library or a Starbucks, I generally don't wear the kind of clothes in public that one wipes hands on.

I had to read this comment like 3 times to parse it... and I'm still not sure I get it

Wiping your hands on your pants when there's towels or something is kind of silly, but how on earth does the article of clothing define if you can wipe your hands on it?

Are you wearing vinyl pants or something?

It’s a very intriguing post. I, too, have been trying to work out its logical ramifications. I feel, perhaps, that the poster may, at any given time, be in possession of two sets of clothing.

how on earth does the article of clothing define if you can wipe your hands on it?

If I'm wearing $50 jeans, I might wipe my hands on them.

If I'm wearing a $2,000 suit, I won't wipe my hands on it.

I've wiped my hands on my suit before because

a) it's just water, and very little of it at that since you do the directed shake into the sink first

b) the thought of what I'm wearing never enters my mind when I wipe my hands on my pants

I don't think anyone really does it purposely, you just blank for a second and the action is done and now you have a wet spot on your pants

think the point is here that things would stain / be too expensive.. jeans don't really "show" if you wipe your hands on them, and if they do, oh well, just part of that 'worn jeans' look

I interpreted it as: Generally the clothes they wear are either too nice or too nasty for wiping clean wet hands. At the library and Starbucks they wear clothes appropriate for wiping hands. Too nasty makes sense to me, if you work landscaping, construction, maintenance, auto repair, possibly even in food service.

The too nice viewpoint is less relatable, but could be from fastidiousness or OCD applied to the clothes themselves, rather than being concerned about your hands.

You could permanently attach a small travel towel like they sell in camping stores to your shirt somewhere under arm. Beats having to use air dryers.

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