The slang phrase XYZ, meaning “examine your zipper,” has been used since at least the 1960’s as a subtle tipoff to let someone know his zipper is down. A variant, XYZ PDQ, means “examine your zipper pretty darn quick.” Other surreptitious suggestions for someone with an open fly: “There’s a dime on the counter,” “Are you advertising?”, and “What do birds do?” This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Examine Your Zipper”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, this is Rose. I’m calling from York, Pennsylvania.
Hi, Rose. How are you doing?
Hey, Rose.
Well, I was wondering, the other day I was folding my laundry and the zipper fly was down.
And I remembered when I was a kid growing up, people would say X, Y, Z, sort of, but not exactly short for examine your zipper.
But my parents were not from the area.
I grew up in south central Pennsylvania, but my dad was from northern Pennsylvania and my mom was from Wisconsin.
So I wasn’t sure how local that expression was or how widespread.
Yeah, it’s a handy one, isn’t it?
XYZ to subtly tell somebody that their zipper is down.
Yeah.
Or gleefully tell people if you’re a child.
Yeah.
Yeah, that fits pretty well with what we know about the expression examine your zipper or XYZ
Because it is largely in the Northeast.
It’s kind of spread all over the country, but mostly in the Northeast.
And it’s been around since the 1960s or so.
Oh, wow.
We used it in the 1970s in Missouri for sure.
I remember it.
X, Y, Z, P, D, Q was the longer form of it, right?
Pretty darn quick.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Have you heard any other expressions like that for the same thing, Rose?
Well, I actually, I asked some friends on Facebook about it, and they said the one that Grant just said about X, Y, Z, P, D, Q.
But I don’t remember that one from growing up, just the shorter one.
Yeah.
I have a long list of those here.
Like, it’s one o’clock at the button factory?
What?
Or are you advertising?
Or I like this one.
What do birds do?
Fly.
Exactly.
Oh.
Your cuckoo clock is working?
The barn door is open is a common one.
Yes, the barn door is open.
Oh, yeah, I’ve heard that one.
You have?
Okay.
Okay.
Or some people say there’s a dime on the counter.
What?
Yeah.
I don’t think that one.
And then you’re supposed to look down and see the dime.
Oh, you look down at the counter and you’ll hopefully catch your zipper.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
X, Y, Z is much more widespread than all of those.
Well, thanks, Rose.
Appreciate it.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Take care.
Bye-bye.
You too.
Bye.
Did you know that in British English, they don’t say fly?
They say flies.
Your flies are open.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
Your flies are open.
It’s one of those interesting differences.
That is.
Can’t really fathom why, but.
And do they say X, Y, Z?
I don’t know about that.
I don’t even know if they have that one.
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