The Universal Phenomenon of missing Socks

Originally posted by schrodingers dog

Originally posted by loam

Or, you could always repurpose this device.

Oh my ... what if you lose your keys?
If you notice the ad, it says use your keys to find your keys!
The combination logic trap/infinity is too much to handle ...
That is an evil evil website!

the key ringer is the #1 Lost Key Finder & Remote Control Locator, satisfaction guaranteed...basically crushing the conventional competition of...well..memory. (who misplaces their cane?)

Originally posted by ugie1028
You do know that Washing machines, and dryers are gateways to another dimension?

that's where your socks went buddy... just like bed bath and beyond.... no one ever comes back from the beyond...

Won't be surprised if the first time machine remarkably resembles them..

reply to post by Now_Then


dang. I am guilty of giving my black socks more foot time than my whites, never thought about the discrimination from the socks point of view. maybe if i go 1 white 1 black, some of the whites will come back...



[edit on 15-2-2010 by juveous]

All it is, is the sister company of the underpants gnomes.

Shesh oh Pete.

I started pinning my socks after I take them off with an 1.5 inch brass coated safety pin about two years ago and have not hunted for sox since. The only problem I have is the kids getting them because I actually keep up with mine. Pin em, put em in the whites basket wash and dry them put them in the droor pinned. One of the best Best things I ever did.

Back in the early 60's, the Underpants Gnomes branched out with new divisions. One of these is the Missing Sock Department. Another branch (I've only recently discovered) is the Missing Undershirts Department.

I swear, I've bought about 20 undershirts in the last two months, and I can rarely find more than 3!!!

reply to post by Gazrok


I think there's a spoons division, too.

I noticed some months ago that my spoons were going missing. I googled 'missing spoons' and there are loads of people on the internet complaining about the same thing.

I can offer a clue - I found a spoon in a cupboard where it didn't belong, along with a lot of evidence of rodent activity

Could there be an evil collaboration between gnomes and mice? Well, this is a conspiracy site - I expect someone will have the answer.

If you put one sock in a washing machine would it still disappear?

reply to post by LiveForever8


Absolutely, or it could even be substituted for two, unmatched socks!

Lost Sock
Let me just say this if you are looking for a good answer I do not have it. I am an engineer and I approach problems logically. First we must define just what is a LOST sock. For one thing a sock is not considered to be lost until it has been missing for a documented 30 days not just 24 hours like ho say your spouse. So things like in a pillowcase or in the sheets do not make the list. Now under the bed or other furniture, in the couch cushions, or behind the close hamper only count if you never thought to look or never just clean. Ho and sock heaven and just run away, not on list. How can one sock run any way? As much as I would like to support the sock eating appliance theory washers and dryers have lint screens, what goes in the door comes out the door. Now if you use a laundry mat and a sock is left stuck to the washer after the spin cycle and the next user take it home, well now we have two single socks. I have never brought a strange sock home. Yes there is a gap in most top loading washers that small things could get thru. I have been in the case of many old washers doing repairs and never found any thing. I have not seen the Maytag repair man on TV saying here are your lost socks. I have had pets take socks and dogs that go in and out will bury them. This however only accounts for a small percentage and if your only pet is gold fish, the socks would plug the filter. I have long suspected the static cling theory of hiding socks in pant legs or shirtsleeves. They just hide and wait for a chance jump off for a clean get away. I give this a 10. That would be say 10 per state per year or around 500 in the USA per year. The USA population is just over 300,000,000 so if every one only lost one per year that leaves 299,999,500 to account for. Now as for my wife and me, we average 3 to 4 lost socks each. So we could be looking at numbers as high as 1,049,999,820 socks lost per year in just the US alone. Now add in the rest of the world and adjust for the countries do not even have shoes, and world wide is close to 13,614,906,512 per year, that is 13 ½ billon. Now I am going on 60 years old and have seen some shoes on the side of the road and few socks out wandering the great out doors, 13 ½ billon, big foot could still be out there.

A small word of advice for y'all....

Never ever report a sock missing to the police, apparently it's akin to painting your toe and fingernails blue and telling people your a blueberry bush - if you need to track down missing socks it's a much safer idea to employ a private detective...

I paid my guy £250 and in a few days all of my socks were back home, apparently they have a homing instinct where by they go back to the shop and get made new again, some of them even have their price tags re inserted.