Dumb-ass question about nothing at all.

[mojowork_n]

I woke up early today and couldn't get back to sleep.

So I caught part of the Reggaeton Bikini Dance Hour, on Telemundo (Spanish-language TV).

It airs between 5 and 6 am and it's actually called, "Muy Buenos Dias." It's a music video/dance show, and except for the songs played by the guys in cowboy hats, with big shiny belt buckles and accordians, most of the tunes are really bangin'. (If you happen to like Daddy Yankee, Illegales, and that one cute girl who sings that syncopated Papi Chullo song. All three were on this morning.)

Anyway -- here's the question -- it seemed like every other woman out there, dancing, had a towel/napkin/scarf on one hip.

What's up with that? What are the towels/napkins/scarves called, and what's the origin of the name, or the story behind them? Is this an old thing that's just coming back -- or am I so out of it, I don't know it's never gone away?

I don't think this is just a Latino thing, because a long time ago I went out with this black girl, who had this sort of white dish towel folded up on the belt of her jeans. I remember asking about it, then, but don't think I got a good reply, or I forgot.

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. They're all serious bowlers who stay very well prepared in case emergency bowling shows up

[mojowork_n]

2. Of course, Brother Julio's Traveling Unicycle Repair, Muffler Shop

Tacqueria and Bowling Emporium.

Or maybe there was once a Studio 54-replica Disco, that had a bowling alley attached, or the other way around, a bowling alley with a dancefloor...

[suninvited]

3. They are called hip scarves

some of them are very ornate, some of them plain.

[mojowork_n]

5. Thank you.

Lots of results when I popped "hip scarves" into Google. Many were related to "Belly Dance Supplies."

Whatever the derivation or provenance, they work for me. As long as the girl avoids looking like some sort of specialty waiter, or wine steward. It's one more thing to be shaking, keeping time to the music.

[Bucky]

4. Most Hispanic girls are either automechanics or football centers

So the towell is more of an occupational thing. Probably the dancers you saw on that show had just got off work as Mexicans are famous for "dancing their job stress away" or, as they say in Monterrey, "bailando muy pimpiado, porque el trabajo el suckos."