Man Machines

The Guardian’s Alexis Petridis recently undertook an unusual mission:

The girl behind the counter at British Home Stores looks distinctly nonplussed. She is clearly too polite or too loyal to her employers to say anything about my purchases, but she doesn’t need to: her expression as she runs them through the till says it all. I’m buying what may be the most appalling item of clothing currently available in Britain: a crimson short-sleeved shirt in a man-made fibre that purports to be the erotic-sounding “Soft feel”, but to the touch bears a distressing similarity to clammy human flesh. Worse than that, I’m buying four of these things, in a variety of sizes, along with four equally unpleasant black ties. “Fifty-two pounds,” she mumbles, stuffing everything into a bag with undue haste.

I could explain, but it might only make matters worse. […]

He’s right - the explanation is even more embarrassing than you probably suspect.