Answer: Yes, It's what they wear that makes them look like young citizens of a poverty stricken nation.

A number of years ago the male undergraduates from the Missouri University St. Louis area all dressed alike.

Actually they were pretty sharp.

In the wintertime they wore gray flannel trousers, and a dark-blue, pull-over sweater with a V-neck. The majority of them wore a brand of shoes called "Threadneedles." This shoe came from a popular St. Louis store that must have done sensational business.

Springtime for the St. Louis students meant lighter gray slacks, a dark blue, short sleeve shirt with a collar. Their shoes were what we called white bucks.

The St. Louis girls wore a similar motif, except -- God bless their hearts -- they wore skirts or dresses.

As Southeast Missourians we were contemptuous of these fashion clones. Maybe it was the small town in us that resisted uniformity. Most of these St. Louis people were OK guys, but we still referred to them as "Jelly Beans."

What a blessing it would be if young people today looked as sharp as those St. Louis kids did.

Back in those days the kids in Southeast Missouri towns were not slaves to any dress code. In fact the only conformity was in letter sweaters earned for some varsity sport. This normally ended up hanging loosely and ridiculously on some sweetheart's upper body.

Everyone had an individual look back then that typified small town independence. Oh there were plenty of jeans around, but never worn exclusively.

Today's small town kids have caved in to a big city type uniformity. The look they have chosen can be called nothing else but, "The Slob" look.

Both the boys and girls look like slobs.

The boys in particular wear over-sized shoes, often with strings untied. They stumble along in sloppy shirts that are too big for them and hang down over billowing, balloon britches that flap and flutter in the wind.

Some of the older kids wear jeans so tight an ant couldn't navigate inside passage from the ankle to the knee; while others conform to droopy drawers that fall below the waist, allowing their underwear to show.

They want -- yes they want -- their underwear to show.

Too many of them want to turn their visor caps around front to back.

The caps turned around backwards mania not only appear cartoonish, but implies ignorance, as if they didn't grasp the concept of a cap with a bill.

Underwear -- being underwear -- has little else to be said about it. Underwear serves a basic, sanitary purpose, and that's it.

This "Slob" look the kids have taken to has nothing to do with socio-economics. The fact that they look like children from a third world nation is just as deliberate as the person who dresses in a tuxedo for a formal dance. They wouldn't want to look any other way.

If you see a boy or girl wearing jeans with patches and holes in them, don't think for a moment that this indicates poverty. Their parents have probably paid dearly for those patches and holes.

Young people's magazine today show semi-adult models wearing a coat and tie, pitifully ragged jeans and tennis shoes. It's as if the lower part of their body has been reserved for some sort of social statement.

Of course this tongue-in-cheek account of what kids are doing can't be taken too seriously. Kids are going to do what they are going to do, and usually it's the antithesis of what older people are doing.

We may fool them this time, however, because everyone wants to look as young as they can, and the only way to do it is with clothing. We like to call it "going casual." Let's face it: We are afraid to look old. Old is not in.

The Chinese revere their elderly people. Not so in this country. At just what age it happens is uncertain, but if you manage to reach any longevity at all, you will eventually be referred to as: "An Old ---." (A term indicating a release of flatus.) This is certainly not an expression of reverence. So as adult social activities, weddings and funerals, look more and more like a meeting of the Men's Golf Association, maybe the kids will soon be wearing three-piece suits and sporting a swagger stick.

Wonder when the next slow boat to China sets sail.

The Answer Man will appear on occasion in the Daily Dunklin Democrat, and will provide answers to various and sundry questions about local people, etc. Readers are invited to submit their queries to The Answer Man by e-mailing them to bhunt@dddnews.com.