Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2022 March 5

Welcome to the Wikipedia Entertainment Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

March 5

Rolled-up long-sleeved shirts on TV talk shows

On TV talk shows and the like, men sometimes wear long-sleeved shirts with the sleeves rolled up to above the elbow, revealing their forearms. They never seem to consider the option of a short-sleeved shirt, which (a) to me looks way neater and professional, and (b) avoids the risk of doing the sleeve-rolling badly, given that there's an art to it which most men don't seem to have any idea about.

I guess the TV management have a say in these things. What's the deal here? Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 22:57, 5 March 2022 (UTC)

Can you find some examples on YouTube? --←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:58, 5 March 2022 (UTC)

Here's one, from 25 seconds in. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 23:06, 5 March 2022 (UTC)

Steve Kornacki is well-known for this look. If you search his name on Google Images, you will find many photos of him with his sleeves rolled up. Cullen328 (talk) 23:34, 5 March 2022 (UTC)

Here is a discussion of the matter. Cullen328 (talk) 23:40, 5 March 2022 (UTC)

These are simply confirming what I already know: that they wear rolled-up sleeves. What I want to know is: why don't they wear short sleeves? -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 07:45, 6 March 2022 (UTC)

I was thinking they might be attempting to emulate Larry King. Here's a video of Larry King making a radio show in 1980. Every man in the studio has a long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up, including the assistant who takes care of people's headphones, and the cameraman at 1:31 (not sure why it was being filmed). I can't say why these guys didn't just wear short-sleeved shirts, but I offer this as evidence that (1) it goes back a long way, and (2) it's not just a look imposed by TV producers.  Card Zero  (talk) 09:28, 6 March 2022 (UTC)

It's just a style affectation: rolled-up sleeves = hardworking. A short-sleeved shirt, on the other hand, is just inappropriately informal. Clarityfiend (talk) 10:41, 6 March 2022 (UTC)

Agreed, see roll up your sleeves and the typical journalist image. Alansplodge (talk) 11:40, 6 March 2022 (UTC)

Stock photography, excellent. I wanted to cite the generic 1930s newspaper editor image, but couldn't think how. Here's Perry White, Daily Planet editor.  Card Zero  (talk) 11:49, 6 March 2022 (UTC)

And here's another generic one. Alansplodge (talk) 12:00, 6 March 2022 (UTC)

As for the short-sleeve option, working in the City of London some decades ago, short sleeves were considered a bit too informal, so sleeves were rolled-uip while working at one's desk to stop them from getting grubby and from catching on things, but if you had to see the boss or a client, sleeves went down again and suit jacket went on, so that a bit of white cuff was showing beyond the jacket sleeves. A bit silly really, but it was thought to look classy. Alansplodge (talk) 12:08, 6 March 2022 (UTC)

I was always taught that you wear long sleeves with a suitcoat. And there's a stereotype of office workers such as accountants wearing green eyeshades and wearing sleeves not just rolled up, but held in place by sleeve clips. --←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 13:08, 6 March 2022 (UTC)

Wearing a short-sleeved shirt under a jacket was very much not done. And for white-collar workers in the City, going to work without a jacket was equally unacceptable at least until the 70s, and for financial institutions even longer. I don't know how it is these days. When I started to read newspapers, a photo of a man in a short-sleeved shirt with a tie^[1] signalled that he was an American.  --Lambiam 15:21, 6 March 2022 (UTC)

• I think User:Clarityfiend said it best. Thanks to everyone else for your thoughts. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 23:17, 6 March 2022 (UTC)

Resolved