Hanging Our Clothes to Dry

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

A group of characters gets wet for whatever reason, like by falling into a river or stream. Upon climbing out and finding themselves lost in the woods, they do the first, most logical thing. They take off their clothes and hang them on a branch or over a fire to dry them off. This can lead to an awkward situation, as all the people are now either in their underwear or naked.

Depending on the people involved, it could be an awkward situation never to be spoken of again or a chance for the relationship between two characters to develop. If you have a man and a woman, expect them to spend a night sitting back to back (to share body heat) and have an intimate, heartfelt conversation. When their clothes are finally dry, she will probably thank him for taking such good care of her...or threaten to kill him if he ever mentions it again.

Compare Gone Swimming, Clothes Stolen and Naked People Trapped Outside.

Examples of Hanging Our Clothes to Dry include:


Anime & Manga

  • Happens in Elfen Lied between Lucy and Kouta.
  • Happens to Shinn and Stella of Gundam Seed Destiny after the latter dances off the edge of a cliff. Also constitutes a Naked Second Impression, as it's the first time the two actually meet. (Their first interaction was a Thanks for the Mammary Crash Into Hello, but there's no indication that either of them actually recognize each other from the incident.)
  • Happens in Kyou no Go no Ni when Ryota accidently squirts milk on Megumi and spills soup on Yuki, Megumi's tank top and Yuki's skirt are then seen drying on the windowsill in the Nurse's office where Megumi and Yuki are covering up with a sheet.
  • In Nagasarete Airantou this happened to Yukino and Ikuto in chapter 9, Machi in chapter 34 and Ayane and Suzu in chapter 59.
  • Happened to Cagalli in Gundam Seed when she was on the deserted island with Athrun.


Films -- Live-Action

  • Happens in Bringing Up Baby. Susan accidentally drops one of David's socks into the fire while trying to dry it, and then tosses the other one in to match.
  • Happens to the protagonist and his guardian angel in It's a Wonderful Life. Then we discover that the angel's underwear is outdated by two centuries.
  • In Way Out West, Ollie is huddled miserably in a blanket while his clothes dry on a line after he walks into a deep hole in a shallow stream twice. He does it again a third time at the very end of the movie.
  • That Man From Rio - Adrian and Agnes are driving from Rio to Brasilia in an open roadster - at night they're caught in a drenching storm unable to put the top up. Next morning they're on the road in their underwear, clothes drying on a makeshift line. By this point Adrian has had enough of this adventure he's been dragged into, and stops at a police station to turn himself in.


Literature

  • This happens with Shinji and Hatsue in The Sound of Waves. They're up a mountain together at night for some reason when their clothes get wet, so they dry them by the fire. They're in love but they just embrace chastely because they are virtuous, honorable country folk, unlike those debauched city-educated types.
  • Book two of Barbara and Scott Siegel's Fire Brats series (about a pair of teenagers surviving World War III) has this occur when Matt and Dani travel by raft. They get dunked, soaked and Dani passes out, seeming feverish—leaving Matt to make the decision that they both need to strip to underwear to prevent serious illness or hypothermia. Being a gentleman, he covers her in leaves rather than look ... but there's still an awkward moment the next morning.


Music

On the lake your boat upset
 And your clothes got soaking wet
How do you stand and wait for them to dry?
P-p-p-p-p-p-patiently
P-p-p-p-p-p-patiently
P-p-p-p-p-p-patient, L-Y.


Video Games


Western Animation

  • Popeye and Bluto do this in Alona of the Sarong Seas.
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