The Legend of Altug: December 2009

Dear All,

Having had the privilege to work at the great 'Express on a part-time basis has allowed me, like many aspiring undergraduates out there, to not on earn a mere wage but to also observe interesting social patterns and behaviours. Studying a Social Work degree, I have been able to learn skills of "engagement" and in addition I have always had a liking to sociology.

Which leads me to talk about the power and meaning attached to bow-ties. You remember bow-ties, the tie's proverbial cute, endearing brother. Before I started work, I would never really bothered to think about bow-ties...I mean in my mind they probably on existed during the 1940's and 1950's when bow-tied goons would go on witch-hunts after rotten pinko-communistas, armed with old style baseball bats and even terrible, incoherent "New-Joes-sy" accent. Oh how I was wrong to say the least.

Indeed, it must be said that each and every time a middle aged (40ish and above) gentleman has come into the store sporting a patterned, bow-tie they have been a Professor of something. Now, by experience, I have had about 15 folks with self-tied patterned bow-ties and the first few times I asked what kinda of "Doctor" they were, as indicated on their flybuys card (yep you can have Dr. on your flybuys card, a post for another occasion). They often respond by saying that they are not merely "doctors" well its kinda like this:

Altug: OOOOooOoOOoOOOoOOooOOoooooOo....Doctor..Sir are you a doctor of Medicine or of something else?

Bow-tie customer: Professor of medicine actually.

Altug: Wow! Cool bow-tie!

It was kinda strange after it happened with different customers after the fifth time. Bow-ties...why bow-ties? Perhaps in the mind of an academic genius, the bow-tie represents a kind of alternative, an intellectual and unique way of presenting one-self compared to say the standard business tie (half windsor style off-course) which exudes a kind of multi-national corporate arbiter willing to maximize profits at any cost. I am perplexed by it.

For any social researchers out there, perhaps a study to look at the sartorial habits of Academics. Because the freaky thing is that, after the fifth time of asking I simply assumed the other times that the other customers that I have served with bow-ties were Professors of something and strangely they were...