So a 32 year old friend I know who has a wife and child posted (on Instagram) a very cute family picture that I found absolutely adorable... what I didn't expect to find was all his friends in the comment section making fun of him for his "dad shorts" and "his shorts being way too short."
He himself seemed cool about it and didn't mind. He was just kind of like, "They're literally not that short though? But if I made you laugh, that's a good thing I guess, haha." His wife even came in from her account and started saying stuff like, "Noooo! His shorts are absolutely not too short! I literally helped him pick them out! They're the perfect length for men's shorts, whether you like it or not! Goodbye to long baggy cargo shorts! Haha."
Overall it seemed pretty lighthearted, and no one was truly offended, but... I was just kind of confused. Is this really the length of shorts people nowadays consider "dad shorts" or "short shorts for men?" That's literally just a few inches above the knee, like 3-5... I agree with what his wife said when she came to "defend" him, they're literally the perfect/ideal length for men's shorts and as inoffensive as it can get...
Back in the 1970s and some of the 80s they had real "dad shorts" or "short shorts for men." Shorts that barely covered their butt cheeks. A few inches above the knee is not nearly that short!
Back in the 1990s and earlier 2000s though they had some quite huge, baggy, long shorts... if you're used to these, then I guess my 32 year old friend's shorts could seem like "dad shorts" in comparison. They're still nowhere near the real dad shorts of the 70s though. They just simply aren't excessively long... which to some equals "dad shorts" or "short shorts" I guess.
