Debate has erupted online over how to wear the good old dressing gown. Photo / Getty Images
This story was one of NZ Herald Lifestyle's top stories for 2021
How do you do up your dressing gown?
That's the seemingly innocent question that has sent TikTok users into a spin after one woman revealed she'd been wearing hers "wrong" her whole life.
Megan, a British woman who lives in Canada, shared a clip demonstrating the "right" way to tie the fluffy garment.
She claims we shouldn't be looping the string tie around our back and twisting at the front to keep our robes shut.
Instead she states we should be looping it through the front to then pull on both ends and tie without looping around our backs at all – claiming "you'll never wear one the same again".
The effect is a more cinched-in waist without the bulky belt at the back – and it has got lots of people asking questions.
"Surely getting it on and off will be much more difficult," one person said.
"I like the other way, it's easy to get on and off," another agreed.
While one woman said: "Problem is, you then have to drop it on the ground to get out of it. Nope, will continue the 'right' wrong way."
Another argued: "Puts undue stress on the side loops. They will break quite soon."
Not everyone thought Megan's method was "complicated", with some calling her trick "flattering".
"OMG always wondered why mine always untied itself. So it wasn't my wonderful figure," one said.
"Love that it gives a tighter and smoother fit," another agreed.
"I learned this recently and my robe game is forever changed," someone else declared.
While one stunned user dramatically said: "I'm questioning every single decision I've made the last 20 years."
"Wow, how did I not know this sooner," said one surprised user.
But perhaps the most interesting debate that raged on in the comments was about the name Megan gave her Barney purple dressing gown – calling it a "house coat".
"Are they not called bathrobes anymore? one person asked.
"Tell me she did not call her robe a house coat," another stated.
Megan was quick to respond to the commenters, writing: "I'm Canadian give me a break."
She also said she grew up in the UK so she sometimes called it a dressing gown.
"It's crazy how much it bothers some people," she added.
It sparked a conversation among the global commenters around what they called it where they were from.
"It's a dressing gown in the UK," a British woman said.
"Bathrobe in the US. But we're idiots here, obviously," an American chipped in.
"Housecoat? Umm, in New Zealand that's called a dressing gown or a robe … NEVER heard of housecoat before," a Kiwi declared.
"In Scotland, we call them housecoats too," someone else added.
While an Australian said: "It's a dressing gown Down Under."
They were in a 'secure and happy relationship' - until his mum interfered.