Sock

A sock is a garment worn between the foot and the shoe so that the two never have to meet. Socks are sold in pairs and lost individually, the only known process in which a pair becomes a single without anyone seeing it happen.^[1]

The missing sock

Every load of laundry loses one sock on average. It is never the same sock twice, and never one from a pair you dislike. Since 1904 an estimated 9.4 billion socks have gone missing in the wash, and eleven have been found, all inside a duvet cover.^[2]

Scientists have ruled out theft, evaporation and escape. The leading remaining theory is that the washing machine is “keeping them”. No washing machine has been prepared to comment.^[3]

Odd socks

A person wearing two socks that do not match is said to be wearing odd socks. Each sock in such a pairing is the last surviving member of a different pair, and the arrangement functions as a small support group.

Left socks and right socks are identical, a design decision taken so that whichever sock goes missing, the survivor will still fit.

Classification

• Pair: two socks, briefly.
• Single: one sock, permanently.
• Drawer: where singles wait.
• Puppet: a single that has started a second career.

See also

• Left side – where half of all socks are worn
• Chair – where clean socks wait to be put away

References

1. Darn, D. (1904). One Went In. Hosiery Press.
2. Laundry Institute (2019). “Census of the Missing”.
3. Heel, H. & Toe, T. (2008). “The Machine Is Keeping Them”. Spin Cycle Review 40.