I do a full Windsor for ordinary ties. Today’s tie has sailboat spinnakers all over it!

An interesting knot is the Pratt knot, made most famous by Don Shelby. Well worth learning.

Disclaimer: I usually wear a Half-Windsor, when I have to wear a tie.

DO

Another thing to keep in mind is that if you feel throttled by a tie, you’re wearing a shirt with the wrong neck size. As with most things, if it hurts you are most likely doing things wrong.

I have a green tie with a gold stegosaurus pattern, a blue tie with golden bears and another blue tie with circuit board designs. If you have to be frilly – and, often, you do – you might as well be silly. The point, as always, is to find a way to enjoy yourself.

True story: I was watching him star in an old film noir, I believe it was, where the bit of stage business he undertook was to dress himself before a mirror in the midst of a conversation.

When I saw where this was headed, I stopped everything to pay careful attention. Alas, as I studied his reflection, Bridges proceeded to don his tie, much to the film’s detriment.

I have forgotten all else about the Hollywood feature save for the knot!

Story goes, in the days of King Henry the VIII, he was prone to wrapping loosly round his neck, a silk scarf, for t’was terrible cold and drafty in his old stone castle. The nobility, wishing to be like the king, but careful to not upstage the old dude, wore woolen neck scarves. Merchants, having no idea what the heck was going on but trying to be like their most prosperous customers, tied a thin piece of cloth around their necks and anyone wishing to work for the merchants did the same. See how a rediculous custom can get its start?

Side effect: In some medical research I read 20 plus years ago, there was an analyses of cerebral blood flow and ties. Seems that if the tie is tightened only a quarter inch smaller than neck circuference, it can decrease blood flow to the brain by as much as 20% and I’m not sorry to say, I need all the blood my brain can get so, Henry the VIII, you whos favorite method of devorce was the headsmans axe, I refuse to deprive meself of a good blood meal. Take your custom and %^^&* It.

As a side note, I had to wear one of those dang things as a computer field engineer because IBM had set the stage for “proper, professional attire”. Wankers!!!

GAry 7

BTW: I recently found out that they ditched the jacket requirement in the early 2000s, but still require a tie. We had to wear jackets, except during exams

All you need to know (married or not) is that chix diggit. (Think about what makes women look sharp. Fair is fair).

Take all your ties, create space, have a woman who always looks great (i.e. has a good eye) partially tie them for you. Store them.

Fortunately after many years in the classroom having to wear a shirt and tie I now no longer have to on a daily basis. Of course this means that my extensive range of comic/astronomy/science geek ties seldom see the light of day now.

By the way some mathematicians studied ties as a knot topology problem several years ago and ended up writing a book on it. From memory there are only 76 or 79 ways(?) to tie a tie. The book showed everyone of them but made the point that only a small subset actually produced useful knots. I can’t remember the authors or exact number at present but can chase it up when I get home tonight.

For most ties, a properly tied full windsor looks at least decent. If the tie material is thick (remember the old wool ties?) you might have to run with a half-windsor or a four-in-hand (or end up with a knot the size of a softball), but it takes practice to get those to come out looking decent.

Where the long part of the tie comes out of the knot, it should be smooth – it shouldn’t be crumpled up like a crushed handkerchief full of dents (re-entrants, female orifices, you know what I mean here). Nice and smooth all the way around. Some people say you can get away with 1 dent, but I disagree… 1 dent just looks like you don’t know how to tie it.

The tie should end within an inch of the top of your pants, ideally right at the top of your pants. Too short and you look like a dork. Too long and you look like a dork. Dents at the knot and you look like a dork.

I joined the military at 17 and had to learn to tie a tie right quick.

For work I have to wear a Clip on, for safety reasons.

Mahalo’s cool and all, but from an Information Retrieval standpoint is old school. The same quality/quantity argument as always, but [Eric M] was right on with his FGI insinuation. Pagerank gets it done good enough for a lot cheaper than a human vetting process.

BTW, love the blog!