Missing Sock
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A missing sock, lost sock, or odd sock (primarily
British English British English is the set of Variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United Kingdom, especially Great Britain. More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly, to ...
) is a single sock in a pair of socks known or
perceived Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sense, sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous ...
to be permanently or temporarily missing. Socks are usually perceived to be lost immediately before, during, or immediately after doing
laundry Laundry is the washing of clothing and other textiles, and, more broadly, their drying and ironing as well. Laundry has been part of history since humans began to wear clothes, so the methods by which different cultures have dealt with this u ...
. According to
popular media Mass media include the diverse arrays of media that reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit information electronically via media such as films, radio, recorded music, or television. Digital media comprises bot ...
articles regarding missing socks, people almost always report losing one sock in a pair, and hardly ever the entire pair of two socks. Various explanations or
theories A theory is a systematic and rational form of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the conclusions derived from such thinking. It involves contemplative and logical reasoning, often supported by processes such as observation, experimentation, ...
—some scientific or
pseudo-scientific Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable cl ...
and others humorous or facetious—have been proposed to show how or why single socks go missing or are perceived to have gone missing. The terms ''odd sock'' and ''mismatched sock'' may instead refer to the remaining "orphaned" sock in a pair where the other matching sock is missing or lost.


Plausible explanations

Two common plausible explanations for missing socks are that they are lost in transit to or from the
laundry Laundry is the washing of clothing and other textiles, and, more broadly, their drying and ironing as well. Laundry has been part of history since humans began to wear clothes, so the methods by which different cultures have dealt with this u ...
, or that they are trapped inside, between, or behind components of ("eaten by")
washing machine A washing machine (laundry machine, clothes washer, washer, or simply wash) is a machine designed to laundry, launder clothing. The term is mostly applied to machines that use water. Other ways of doing laundry include dry cleaning (which uses ...
s or
clothes dryer A clothes dryer (tumble dryer, drying machine, drying device, or simply dryer) is a powered Home appliance, household appliance that is used to remove moisture from a load of clothing, bedding and other textiles, usually after they are washed in ...
s. Due to the high
rotation Rotation or rotational/rotary motion is the circular movement of an object around a central line, known as an ''axis of rotation''. A plane figure can rotate in either a clockwise or counterclockwise sense around a perpendicular axis intersect ...
al speeds of modern front-loading washing machines and dryers, it may be possible for small clothes items such as socks to slip through any holes or tears in the
rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Types of polyisoprene ...
gasket Some seals and gaskets A gasket is a mechanical seal which fills the space between two or more mating surfaces, generally to prevent leakage from or into the joined objects while under compression. It is a deformable material that is used to c ...
between either machine's spinning drums and their outer metal or plastic cases. Socks may also bunch up or unravel and get caught in the water drain pipe of washing machines or in the lint trap of dryers. In 2008, American science educator and
writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...
George B. Johnson proposed several
hypotheses A hypothesis (: hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. A scientific method, scientific hypothesis must be based on observations and make a testable and reproducible prediction about reality, in a process beginning with an educ ...
for why socks go missing: * during the drying cycle, socks are caught inside other
clothing Clothing (also known as clothes, garments, dress, apparel, or attire) is any item worn on a human human body, body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin s ...
such as
trousers Trousers (British English), slacks, or pants ( American, Canadian and Australian English) are an item of clothing worn from the waist to anywhere between the knees and the ankles, covering both legs separately (rather than with cloth extending ...
or long-
sleeve A sleeve (, a word allied to '' slip'', cf. Dutch ) is the part of a garment that covers the arm, or through which the arm passes or slips. The sleeve is a characteristic of fashion seen in almost every country and time period, across a myri ...
d
shirt A shirt is a cloth garment for the upper body (from the neck to the waist). Originally an undergarment worn exclusively by men, it has become, in American English, a catch-all term for a broad variety of upper-body garments and undergarments. ...
s due to
static cling Static cling is the tendency for light objects to stick (cling) to other objects owing to static electricity. It is common in clothing, but occurs with other items, such as the tendency of dust to be attracted to, and stick to, plastic items. ...
; * socks are lost somewhere in the home or elsewhere while being transported to or from the laundry; * socks are lost during washing, getting stuck inside components of the washing machine; or; * socks are lost during drying, getting stuck inside components of the dryer. In his particular case, Johnson rejected all hypotheses except the last one, as it was possible for small items like socks to slip behind the dryer's spinning drum because of gaps between the drum and the dryer's outer metal case. A 2016 pseudo-scientific consumer study commissioned by
Samsung Electronics Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (SEC; stylized as SΛMSUNG; ) is a South Korean multinational major appliance and consumer electronics corporation founded on 13 January 1969 and headquartered in Yeongtong District, Suwon, South Korea. It is curr ...
UK (to advertise their new washing machines where users could add more laundry to a load one piece at a time) referenced multiple
human error Human error is an action that has been done but that was "not intended by the actor; not desired by a set of rules or an external observer; or that led the task or system outside its acceptable limits".Senders, J.W. and Moray, N.P. (1991) Human Er ...
s—including errors of
human perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous syste ...
or
psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
—to explain why socks go missing: they may become mismatched by poor folding and sorting of laundry, be intentionally misplaced or stolen, fall in hard-to-reach or hard-to-see spaces behind
furniture Furniture refers to objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., Stool (seat), stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (table (furniture), tables), storing items, working, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Furnitur ...
or
radiator A radiator is a heat exchanger used to transfer thermal energy from one medium to another for the purpose of cooling and heating. The majority of radiators are constructed to function in cars, buildings, and electronics. A radiator is always a ...
s, or blow off of
clothes line A clothes line, also spelled clothesline, also known as a wash line, is a device for hanging clothes on for the purpose of drying or airing out the articles. It is made of any type of rope, cord, wire, or twine that has been stretched bet ...
s in high wind.
Diffusion of responsibility Diffusion of responsibility is a sociopsychological phenomenon whereby a person is less likely to take responsibility for action or inaction when other bystanders or witnesses are present. Considered a form of attribution, the individual assume ...
, poor
heuristic A heuristic or heuristic technique (''problem solving'', '' mental shortcut'', ''rule of thumb'') is any approach to problem solving that employs a pragmatic method that is not fully optimized, perfected, or rationalized, but is nevertheless ...
s, and
confirmation bias Confirmation bias (also confirmatory bias, myside bias, or congeniality bias) is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or Value (ethics and social sciences), val ...
were the cited psychological reasons. For example: people may not search for lost socks because they assume others are searching; people search for lost socks in the likeliest places they could have been lost but not in the places where they are actually lost; or people may believe socks are or are not lost because they want to believe so despite
evidence Evidence for a proposition is what supports the proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the proposition is truth, true. The exact definition and role of evidence vary across different fields. In epistemology, evidence is what J ...
to the contrary, respectively. The authors of the Samsung study developed an
equation In mathematics, an equation is a mathematical formula that expresses the equality of two expressions, by connecting them with the equals sign . The word ''equation'' and its cognates in other languages may have subtly different meanings; for ...
called the "sock loss formula" or "sock loss index" which claims to predict the frequency of sock loss for a given individual: \text = (L + C) - (P \times A), where equals laundry size (number of people in a household multiplied by the number of weekly laundry loads), equals "washing complexity" (the number of types of laundry loads such as dark clothes versus white clothes done in a week multiplied by the total number of socks in those loads), equals the positive or negative attitude of the individual toward doing laundry on a scale of 1 (most negative) to 5 (most positive), and equals the "degree of attention" the individual has when doing laundry (the sum of whether the individual checks
pocket A pocket is a bag- or envelope-like receptacle either fastened to or inserted in an article of clothing to hold small items. Pockets are also attached to luggage, backpacks, and similar items. In older usage, a pocket was a separate small bag o ...
s, unrolls sleeves, turns clothes the right way if they have been turned inside out, and unrolls socks). Complementary to the previous explanations, it was also suggested that other small clothes (of which people usually have many items and that get washed often) such as underpants, are lost as often as socks, but people do not notice that as often because they don't come in matching pairs. The existence of the non-paired remaining sock draws attention to the lost sock in a way that cannot happen with clothes that naturally come in singles and not pairs.Fishler, Doron (24 October 2023)
Where do socks really disappear into?
(in Hebrew). ''Making History Network''. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
Another suggestion made in this context is that since most people usually take off their socks, but not their underpants, when going to sleep, there is a higher chance for socks to get lost in the bedroom (e.g. pushed under the bed or taken by a pet as a toy).


Prevention

Home appliance A home appliance, also referred to as a domestic appliance, an electric appliance or a household appliance, is a machine which assists in household functions such as cooking, cleaning and food preservation. The domestic application attached to ...
repair and
design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...
specialists from
Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...
and GE suggest not overloading laundry machines and repairing any holes in the gaskets between the spinning drums and the rest of the machines to avoid losing socks in them. Other practical suggestions include: * Keeping the sock pairs together: Before throwing the socks in the dirty clothes bin securely attach each pair of matching socks together with a safety pin or a rugged clothespin, or a plastic ring. There are also commercial products dedicated for this purpose. * Separating the socks and other small items from other types of laundry, either by washing them is a separate load or by putting them in the machine in a mesh-bag: This will prevent the small items from getting lost inside larger things such as blanket covers. * Giving up on preventing the loss of socks and buying many pairs of exactly the same socks. Thus, even if some socks will get lost over time it wouldn't matter so much (or won't even be noticed). Alternatively one can get used to wearing mismatched socks.


Humorous explanations

Some explanations for the phenomenon jokingly suggest that socks have some innate propensity for going missing, and that this may be a
physical property A physical property is any property of a physical system that is measurable. The changes in the physical properties of a system can be used to describe its changes between momentary states. A quantifiable physical property is called ''physical ...
of the
universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents. It comprises all of existence, any fundamental interaction, physical process and physical constant, and therefore all forms of matter and energy, and the structures they form, from s ...
. For example, in the 1996 book ''The Nature of Space and Time'' by the physicists Stephen Hawking and Nobel laureate Roger Penrose, they posit that spontaneous black holes are responsible for lost socks. In his 2008 examination of the phenomenon, George B. Johnson also rejected two humorous
hypotheses A hypothesis (: hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. A scientific method, scientific hypothesis must be based on observations and make a testable and reproducible prediction about reality, in a process beginning with an educ ...
for why socks go missing: that an "Intrinsic and extrinsic properties (philosophy), intrinsic property" of the socks themselves predisposes or causes them to go missing; and that the socks transform into something else, such as clothes hangers.


In popular culture

The Bobs' 1988 song "Where Does the Wayward Footwear Go?", asks where lost socks disappear to, asking "To the bottom of the ocean? Or to China? Or to Cuba? Or Aruba?". A 1993 album by the American indie rock band Grifters (band), Grifters is titled ''One Sock Missing''. In the 2001 American children's film ''Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge'', lost objects including socks are magically transported to the home of a character named Gort, who is a compulsive hoarding, compulsive hoarder. American illustrator and voice actor Harry S. Robins wrote and illustrated a book titled ''The Meaning of Lost and Mismatched Socks''. In the British children's book series Oddies, odd socks are transported to a planet called Oddieworld by a magical washing machine. The online sock subscription service and retailer Blacksocks was supposedly started after its founder wore mismatched socks to a Japanese tea ceremony.


See also

*Abductive reasoning *Effort heuristic *Guesstimate *Smelly socks *Spherical cow *Viral phenomenon


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Missing sock Laundry Socks Social phenomena Heuristics