Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with socks

Why do male porn stars wear socks and shoes?

skylar — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:27:01 -0800

Why do male porn actors so often wear socks and shoes while otherwise naked in adult movies? It's true that high heels are prevalent among the females but at least one could argue there's some aesthetic point to that. The guys' choice of footwear, meanwhile, is nearly always awful. Is there a practical or cultural reason for the men wearing socks, shoes and sometimes hats and sunglasses?

Compression socks recommendation

corpse — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:09:51 -0800

What brand compression socks should I buy? I'm looking to get some compression socks to aid in recovery after long runs. Also, I really like the overall feeling of compression clothing so I'll probably wear them around the house regardless of when my last run was.

There are a lot of brands out there of varying price levels, so I'd like some recommendations. I've been looking at Zoot, 2XU, CEP, Zensah, Oxysox, various medical compression socks and stockings. The less seams the better. Any recommendations?

What are these thin, stretchy dress socks called?

hjo3 — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:18:44 -0800

What do you call these dress socks? They're very thin and stretchy, almost like opaque calf-high pantyhose. Where can I buy them? I have exactly one pair of these dress socks that I adore. They come almost to the top of my calf and have a one inch wide band at the top. The material is patterned and just barely thicker than women's pantyhose (enough to be opaque and slightly less clingy).

I'd really like to buy more. They may even be a women's product, but I don't care. Sadly, I forget where I got the pair I have and they don't have a tag.

Questions: What are these called? Where can I buy them? Do you know a good place to order them in bulk (i.e. by the dozen or more)?

Help Me Find Awesome Bertram Cooper Socks

rossination — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 15:32:01 -0800

Where can I buy awesome dress socks online? I am trying to find the perfect orange argyle (men's) dress socks for my June 2010 wedding. I've looked at Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, J Crew, Eddie Bauer, Lands End, Macy's, Nordstrom, etc - no one has what I'm looking for. I was hoping that there would be some sort of online dress sock superstore like cheap-neckties.com is for ties. Sock Dreams is the only site I can find and they don't seem to have what I'm looking for.

I have size 14 feet, so while I do not need any sort of a special large size sock (those are always too big), I don't think I'll be able to squeeze my feet into a women's or kid's sock.

Any ideas? Since this is just one pair of socks, price isn't a huge issue - I'd be willing to spend up to $15 or $20, but I'd rather not if I don't need to.

Permutations: an extension of the odd sock problem

Beautiful Screaming Lady — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:00:02 -0800

I've annoyed myself by getting stuck attempting to work out a silly maths problem relating to permutations. It's an extension of the 'how many odd socks do I have to pull out of a drawer before I find a pair' problem. Only my theoretical sock-wearer has three legs. And a penchant for odd socks. Let's say I'm Jake the Peg. I have s socks in a drawer. There are n different types of sock. On average, how many socks must I remove from the drawer before I get three odd ones?

I've worked this out from scratch using a drawer containing only 5 socks. Obviously, if all 5 socks are different (s=n=5), then there are 5! different ways of pulling the 5 socks from the drawer, and every single one of those leads to me having an odd triplet after only 3 socks.

If I only have 4 types of sock (i.e. in the drawer of 5, there's 1 pair and 3 odd ones), again, there are 120 ways of pulling all 5 socks out of the drawer, but this time there are only 60 unique sequences [I managed to work out from first principles that the number of unique ways of withdrawing the socks is s!/(s-n+1)!, not that that seems to help me at all ]. 84 of these sequences lead me to have an odd triplet after the first three socks. 36 of these lead me to have an odd triplet after the first four socks. At no stage do I need to withdraw all 5. So now the average number of socks I need to withdraw to get an odd triplet is (3x84 + 4*36)/120 = 3.3.

If I now only have 3 types of sock (i.e. in the drawer of 5, there are three black ones, a 'Worlds Best Dad' and a Homer Simpson), there are 20 unique ways of removing them all, and, if I've counted right, 37 ways of getting an odd triplet after 3 socks; 35 ways of getting an odd triplet after 4 socks; 48 ways of only getting an odd triplet after removing all 5 socks from the drawer. This leads to an average of 4.09.

My tiny brain is now too overheated to take this further. There must be a connection between these numbers, but I can't get a handle on a pattern, and am too daunted by the prospect of writing out all the variations of 720 sequences for a drawer of 6 socks to do it by brute force. Can anyone please put me out of my misery and point me towards a general formula for this, to solve the average number of socks necessary to achieve an odd triplet given s socks and n different types?

At least no one will see the socks now that they're bunched up by my toes.

mittenedsex — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:06:19 -0800

Where can I get "no show" ankle socks that don't slide down? I'd be wearing these with sneakers (Converses, Keds, etc.). Normal low ankle socks (while short) simply aren't short enough, and it looks rather tacky. Socks that don't show inevitably slide down to the arch of my foot in a measly 4 or 5 steps.

I'd prefer them to be cotton or a predominantly-cotton blend, though honestly, I might settle for anything that doesn't show at this point.

Thanks!

(FWIW: I can't be the only one with this problem right? I ran multiple searches for this but couldn't find any relevant threads. Apologies in advance if I've somehow missed something)

Not White Socks

Jimmie — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:29:26 -0800

I want to buy some preppy-funky patterned socks for men. Not argyle or stripes, but socks with a scatter of little random things airplanes or flamingos. These patterned socks in crazy colors like pink and lime green are ok too. What brands can I look into other than JCrew? Are there any other similar styled brands in Europe or the UK I can look into? I imagine this is can be found in more of those regions as they are more creative-preppy with mens fashion, if you can call socks fashion.

I've found this website which is great, http://www.joyofsocks.com, but I'm ideally looking for higher 'brand' name socks if possible.

These are as a gift for my father, as he has really generic socks and want to give him something useful but different.

Sock Help

Bruce H. — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:50:08 -0800

The best pair of socks I own have lasted an amazingly long time, but they will eventually wear out, and I need help finding some more. They are cotton (or possibly a cotton and synthetic blend), very thick construction - although knitted with fairly thin yarn, and looped like terry cloth on the inside. The toe seam is very smooth.

Any idea what brand these might be? I don't remember where I bought them. I wish now I had bought a dozen pairs.

Global Proxy in Ubuntu with SOCKS and ssh

SpiffyRob — Mon, 11 May 2009 13:53:42 -0800

Global SOCKS5 Proxy in Ubuntu? (Or, MacOS/Widnows:Proxifier :: Linux:???) I’m a recent Ubuntu adoptee, and have enjoyed solving the issues that come up in the switching as much as the OS itself, but this one seems to have me stymied. Basically, I’m looking for a way to set things up such that every single network connection goes through an SSL tunnel.

A basic bit of background: In either Mac OS or Windows, I’ve accomplished this exact thing by doing the following:

1. I have a remote server configured to be used as a SOCKS5 proxy.
2. I use the following command to direct all traffic sent to localhost:1080(127.0.0.1) on to my remote server:
ssh –ND 1080 user@server.com –p 80

Where –N is used to show no confirmation after I enter the password, -D directs all traffic to 1080, and –p makes the ssh connection over port 80. (One of the few ports unblocked by my home ISP.)

3. Once that is connected, I use proxifier to direct all network traffic to localhost:1080.

This works perfectly for both setups. The thing I like best about it is that it directs *all* network traffic through Proxifier, and I can exempt things as needed. This is much, much simpler than configuring individual applications, and is invaluable for applications that don’t support SOCKS5 out of the box.

SO! The question: Does an alternative to proxifier exist for Linux? Some googling reveals that this same question has been asked, but in the rare instance that it’s been answered, the answerer didn’t seem to grok what proxifier did. The one thing that I’ve found, GSTM seems like it should do the trick, but I’ve yet to have any success.

Please note: While I will certainly entertain alternate methods to what I’m doing, they would need to follow two criteria:
1. I can do it without touching my remote server’s configuration. (Don’t want to mess up the already-working solutions I have for Windows/Mac.)
2. It must allow for stuff that doesn’t support SOCKS5 natively to run through a proxy.

Thanks in advance!

Cheapest way to cover my feet?

vegetableagony — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 19:46:43 -0800

Where is the cheapest place (online) to buy a large number of identical plain white "no-show" socks? I always am wearing through my socks, but unlike a previous person, I just want to buy socks that are cheap enough that I don't need to worry about destroying them after a while.

I used to buy these old navy socks, but the price has gone up.

Any one have any suggestions? I am not picky about brand, or getting really fancy ones, but I do want all the socks to be identical, preferably as close to solid white as possible (i.e. no grey heel). I prefer the no-show style socks that ride pretty low on the ankle. Around $1 or less per pair would be ideal

Bonus points if the same store also sells black socks in the same style.

Breathable dress shoes for sweaty feet

thankyoumuchly — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:38:56 -0800

My feet sweat a lot, no matter if I'm sitting still or running around. I am in search of the perfect work/dress shoes (business casual) that will help me best deal with my sweaty feet! All shoe suggestions are welcomed! Sweaty feet run in my family (no pun intended). I sometimes sit at a desk for 8 hours a day, and sometimes I travel and am on my feet for 8 hours a day. Regardless of my activity, my feet sweat a consistent amount. I'm looking for dress shoes (for a business casual job) that help combat or deal with this situation.

What I Am Asking of You:
Please provide me with successful/applicable dress shoe brands/models, sock brands, etc. that you have tried (or your family/friend/co-worker) that either help my feet breath (so my feet/socks/shoes aren't damp/wet at the end of the day and subsequently smell), help wick away the moisture or otherwise cut down on/reduce/better address the sweating.

What I am Not Asking:
I'm not looking for over-the-counter non-shoe or non-sock "apply to your feet/shoe" solutions (gold bond, dr. Scholl's inserts, desenex, tinactin, etc.). I've tried every over-the-counter powder, insert/insole, cream, etc. on the shelves of the drug store. So have my family members that also have this problem. It just seems to be that our feet like to sweat. I'm ready to accept that I have a problem and attempt to deal with it! As a result, I am turning to you, Hive Mind! TIA.

Holy Socks, Batman!

roundrock — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 09:39:34 -0800

My dad is constantly wearing holes in the heels of his socks. After recently going through about $100 worth of new socks, it's time for a new course of action. He realizes that this means spending $10-$20 for each pair of socks, and he wants to make sure that his pricey new socks are going to last. Any personal recommendations for amazingly durable socks? For the record, he already has a great pair of slippers, but he always seems to go back to just wearing socks around the house -- or out the mailbox, or wherever .... My mom calls them his "Polish shoes" (we're all Polish). After some online searching, I've found a few brands that have hole-less/durability guarantees, but I'd like to hear what really does stand up to wear.

BTW - I did see this thread, but there weren't a whole lot of brand-specific recommendations.

Too many odd socks

missmagenta — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 04:31:07 -0800

What to do with a load of odd socks? I have a bag full of odd socks, where all the matching socks went I do not know but other than throwing these away, what else can I do with them?

I'm not a sock snob, I wear odd socks when its just a matter of them being a different colour/pattern but these are all different lengths and fabrics so they feel weird to wear together. Theres probably about 20 of them in all different colours, sizes and fabrics.

You Know What Small Feet Mean ...

jabberjaw — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 10:56:01 -0800

I am looking for small men's dress socks, preferably a store with an online presence. My foot length is about a size 6.5 (US). I don't know what genius decided that one sock size could fit all sizes between 6 - 13, but it simply ain't so. I'm tired of putting my foot into socks where the sock heel creeps up to my Achilles tendon. I've tried child-size dress socks, but the largest size is too small and/or tend to not be appropriate for wearing with a suit. And women's socks look like women's socks, so also tend to be inappropriate.

I'm in Southern California, so if you know of a retailer out here (besides Jimmy Au's) then let me know.

Bonus points if you can tell me why I can't find socks for folks with smaller feet, and why in the world manufacturers think that one sock size can fit the 2.5 inches of difference between a size 6 and 13 foot.

My cat's a nightmare (washing, pooping, moving socks, flicking letterboxes...). Any suggestions?

handee — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:40:51 -0800

I've got a problematic cat. She's a stray. I've had her for 8 years now, and we estimate she was about 4 months old when she decided to join me. There are 4 main problems: the persistent washing (till she bleeds); the crapping on the floor; the moving of socks and other small items around the house; and the general neediness. The vet is out of ideas. I have this naive hope that there will be a solution (ah, your cat has "Needywashingcrappersock syndrome, ms handee"). But I'm running out of patience (and cash). So it is time to Ask Metafilter. Anyone got any ideas? The washing thing has necessitated monthly or bi-montly vet visits for about 5 years. This summer, the vet thought of trying a surgical intervention, and that got infected, which made the whole situation 1000% worse (and means I've spent about 2000 dollars in vets fees this year). We are unclear whether she's better or not - current diagnosis is eosinophilic granuloma, but nobody seems entirely sure how to treat that.

The crapping thing is a real problem. She hasn't gotten used to the new house, and we've been here over a year now. She will crap next to the litter tray, or in the middle of the kitchen. She will stand in the litter tray and crap over the edge. She will, if the tray is entirely empty, maybe get most of the crap in the tray. But rarely all. This is really really getting me down.

The sock thing isn't so much of a problem in that it's easy to deal with, but it's been going on for the whole time we've had her, so we've had a while to adapt. We are now experts at keeping drawers shut and hiding the laundry. But if there is a sock or some knickers lying around, she will move them from room to room or from floor to floor. She's got a special noise (sort of half miaou half grunt) she does when shifting socks so we can tell when she's doing it.

This last one - the neediness - isn't so much of a problem either, but when she's out and she wants in she will sit at the front door flicking the letter box till we let her in. This, as you can imagine, impacts on our sleep. And if you're reading a book, she'll come and headbutt it until she gets attention.

(There's a sense in which this is 4 questions in one - and I would be grateful for answers to any of them - but I can't help but think these things are all linked...)

What's the best place to buy cotton argyles socks like those sold by J.Crew?

boombot — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 09:01:53 -0800

I've always liked J.Crew's argyle socks - cotton, and thicker and more comfortable than a dress sock, but not so thick as to upset the sock/shoe balance. I do wonder, though, if some other sock purveyor sells a similar item of more quality, less expense, and/or more variety - in short, what's the best place to buy cotton argyles socks like those sold by J.Crew? I readily concede that I may already offer the best answer to my question in the question itself, but I do tend to think otherwise...

Socks too thick! Need help quick!

the matching mole — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:01:51 -0800

Does anybody make a THIN sock a man could wear with shorts? I am a man with relatively wide feet. Finding shoes which fit well is not easy, but I have found brands that work for me. (I adore my Birkenstock Londons, that's for sure. But I don't wear those with socks or long pants.) I live in a warm climate and spend much of the year in shorts. I'd like to be able to wear athletic or all-terrain shoes comfortably.

However, I can only find socks I could wear with shorts which are thick. Very thick. So thick that my wide shoes don't fit well anymore. Ankle length, mid-calf length, over-the-nostrils length, with swooshes, logos, in black, white, gray, or red, are all thick, thick, thick.

Granted, the work socks I wear with long pants are thin enough that I can wear any shoes with them. But black mid-calf socks with shorts? I don't think so.

Help me buy socks, Hive Mind!

What do I wear with dress shoes?

peep — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 12:58:17 -0800

Ladies of MetaFilter: what socks/hosiery do you wear with dress shoes and boots? I'm trying to update my wardrobe and dress more stylishly at work. I'm lucky enough to have the choice, and in the past it's been so easy to dress like a slob but I'm trying to change that.

I have black pumps that I usually wear with dresses and skirts, and ankle boots that I wear with floor-length pants.

Right now I wear pantyhose - which I HATE - with the skirts and dresses. I only wear the nylons because without any hosiery, my shoes don't really fit right. My feet sweat and swell and the shoes become totally uncomfortable and give me blisters.

I wear knee-high nylons or trouser socks with the boots, but I don't really like those either. They feel constricting and don't absorb sweat so I always feel like my feet are moist. But regular cotton socks slip down and that bugs, too.

So do you go bare-legged with dresses? My shoes are moderately-priced or cheap; maybe better-made shoes are more comfortable with bare feet? And what do you wear with boots? I'll be buying some knee-length boots soon, so suggestions welcome there, too.

Clothe My Poor Feet

wuzandfuzz — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 15:57:08 -0800

Best deals, patterns and otherwise for technical socks? (Cycling, Running, etc) Ok, here's the deal. I am a runner. I love to run. I run all the time. This would be a love story, but I have problems losing socks. This is partly due to the mess that wuz and fuzz call a house, partly because I am too much man for my socks. (200lb runner, you do the math)

Where can I get awesome technical, cheap socks? I am not talking about Hanes 6 packs of white, thick, nasty feeling socks. The socks I am talking about are thin, designed for running, cycling, or other sports, and help keep feet nice and dry. Thin is critical, or my picky feet will hate the socks. Cheap is critical, or my cheap ass will resent the socks for eating too much money. Yes, I have it within me to resent socks. Dont judge me.

For reference, I wear a lot of Sockguy, Defeet, Pearl Izumi, and Nike socks. They are awesome. Bonus points for flames or other awesome pics on the side to make me go faster. Thanks!

SOCKS proxy on OS X. What a bunch of ocks.

armoured-ant — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 02:02:37 -0800

I'd like to use certain, specific applications over a SOCKS proxy on OS X. Is this possible? Skype on the Mac, for example, doesn't have proxy settings built in. Is it possible to channel anything Skype does through a proxy, while running everything else over my normal internet connection?

Sock it to me

913 — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 00:04:23 -0800

Let's say I was selling really cool handmade and individually numbered socks. They would be organic and would have 3% of their sales donated to a charity. Now, let's say I set a cap at 400 pairs a month. Would you be intrigued to purchase them? For example:

It's December 15th and 400 pairs of socks have already been sold, you would have to wait to January 1st to be able to purchase a pair of the socks.

Would this annoy you? Intrigue you?

Oh, the delay wouldn't be fully intentional but more of a clearance time to allow more socks to be produced. I would really appreciate your thoughts on this.

Feet 1 Socks 0

jmnugent — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 15:55:10 -0800

Does anyone make socks that last anymore? I hate to 'waste' a question on this, but with the right answer, I'm sure my feet will thank me (and you!)

I seem to wear through the bottoms of socks quite quickly (atleast in my opinion). Socks dont seem to last me 4 to 6 months before holes start to show through the bottom. (at which point I dont like wearing them for obvious reasons) Which means every 6 months or so I'm spending close to $100 on socks, there must be an option that lasts longer for that money.

So what am I doing wrong ?

--I have 2 pairs (1 brown and 1 black) of fairly standard style low-top lace up leather Doc Martens that are what I wear on a daily basis. ( I try to take them off as often as I can , but admit that my feet do get hot and sweaty)

--I buy/replace shoe liners on a regular basis (for comfort), so I dont think its shoe-soles causing the fast wear

--i generally keep about 10 pairs of socks on hand at any given point in time. At the moment I'm buying SmartWool, but I've tried various brands.

Do I need to just buy a bigger amount of pairs of socks so my rotation is longer (and thus "wear" takes longer to occur ?) What I would really like to find would be a sock manufacturer that uses some high quality, high wear fabric on the bottom of the socks that lasts longer than 6 months. Am I asking/expecting to much ? or is it now common to not have socks last longer than a year ?

(I'm of course frustrated with the recent trend of clothes being made out of thinner and thinner fabric. 10 years or so ago i could buy denim jeans and socks and tshirts that felt "heavy" and would wear forever and felt great. If anyone can suggest a manufacturer or store that still stocks items like this, I'd be willing to pay for that)

Sock quality modelling and optimisation?

TheNewWazoo — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 07:10:01 -0800

Let's say I buy s socks. Now, these socks feel the very best (have a quality factor of 100) after f wearings, and must be discarded (have a quality factor of zero) after f × 100 wearings. I want to add these socks to a pool from which I draw two daily, and want to maximise the probability of selecting socks with the highest quality over the life of the pool... So, presuming I want a function which describes the quality of my socks... how do I model and optimize it? I've taken a few courses in basic calculus and statistics, but have no idea how to model this. What branch of mathematics deals with these sorts of problems, and what is a good (better?) example of an attendant/canonical problem for that branch?

This is not homework!

Sweat-free socks

tabulem — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 11:01:04 -0800

What kind of socks make your feet sweat the least? Within about two hours of putting on socks and shoes, my feet get uncomfortably sweaty. They don't smell or anything, just feel uncomfortable. What fabrics/brands/etc do people find best for keeping the feet dry?

Yellow Sock Brigade

weaponsgradecarp — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 12:14:06 -0800

Where can I get those yellow socks that Virgin Atlantic gives out on their flights? They are so delightful, and I'd love to have a really big pile of them, because they turn decidedly un-delightful after you wear them once or so...any ideas beyond calling Virgin and asking nicely?