Un-American? Obama's Ties Of A Different Stripe - Granite Grok

Un-American? Obama’s Ties Of A Different Stripe

Ties of a different slant Joe = USA; Barry = Euro
Ties of a different slant
Barry = Euro; Joe = USA
Many people, looking at the almost matching outfits of Obama and Biden during yesterday’s non-announcement, saw either too cute, or uncomfortably close coordination of outfits – something just a little, well, creepy. See Twitchy.com

As a British import and world traveler, I saw something more interesting – the stripes on the ties went in opposite directions! Hmmm – one direction is traditional European, and the other is typical American, so who was wearing which?

The traditional regimental, or “Rep” Tie had stripes running down from the left shoulder toward the waist for Europeans, but due to the way Americans slung their rifles, US ties have stripes sloping down from the RIGHT shoulder to the waist.

Web research (samples after the fold) shows that “Barry” exclusively wears the Euro-slant, whereas most well-traveled politicians tend to have a mixture (Biden, Clinton, Romney, McCain, even ‘Rahmbo’ have been seen in both). Is Barry un-American, or just a Europhile? We present, you decide.

Bonus – the Euro-slant originated with the British armed forces – do you think if we explain that to the man who sent back the bust of Churchill that his head might explode? We can hope!

Excerpt from the Nice Tie Store’s blog on the origin of the different slants:

It is true that the “Rep Stripe” tie is different in Europe. I believe that it is a military uniform influence. The “American Rep Stripe” will cross the chest diagonally with the stripes pointing from the right shoulder towards the waist. The “European Rep Stripe” crosses the chest with the stripes pointing from left shoulder towards the waist.

If a rifle were to be carried in sling strapped over the shoulder, the American soldier would carry his weapon over the right shoulder. The European military sling would carry over the left shoulder with the strap crossing the heart. American rifles eject shell casings to the right and the European rifle ejects shell casings to the left. As for American military; considering people are mostly right handed the soldier would have and easier access and feel for the rifle carried over the right shoulder.

Some of Obama’s striped ties – see if YOU can find a “righty” on the web (Bubba and Rahmbo for contrast):
Obama-Slant-6 Obama-Slant-1

Obama-Slant-2 Obama-Slant-3

Obama-Slant-4 Obama-Slant-5

Clinton-Slant Rahmbo-Slant

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