His and Hers

When a matching pair of something, usually bath towels, are labeled 'His' and 'Hers' in order to signify a couple living together. Mostly a Discredited Trope these days, and is almost never played straight.

Parody can come either in the labeling of the objects (for example, "Its" instead of "His" or "Hers"), or in the object itself (say, a military family with His and Hers rifles).

Examples of His and Hers include:

Anime & Manga

• Played straight in Little House With an Orange Roof, as the two families who are forced to share one house both brought all their own furniture...and labeled it.

Comics

• This page shows a series of comics that played with this concept for laughs.
• A comic by Peter Bagge used "hers and its" (the guy was a big dork - however, the girl was an even bigger dork).
• Apparently played straight in Superman, where Lois and Clark have a "His and Hers" towel rail. But only for contrast with Bizarro's bathroom, which has a rail labeled "YOUЯS".

Film

• Parodied in Fatal Instinct. Laura Lincolnberry is married to a spousal abuser: This is made clear when we see three towels in their bathroom, labeled "His", "His" and "His".
• In Priscilla, Queen of the Desert: upon learning that Tick is married, Adam says that he "would have bought you a lovely matching set of hers and hers bath mats."
• In The Parent Trap, Annie complains to her mom about "his and hers kids": "That just sucks!" Mom agrees totally.

Live Action TV

• Played with on Friends. Ross buys Carol and Susan a matching set of "Hers and Hers" towels. They're identical, as a joke.
• Some of the Zonks on Let's Make a Deal, especially bathtubs and junked cars.
• Played with on "The Man Show" in the episode where Adam and Jimmy visit Snoop Dogg's crib. While giving them the grand tour, Snoop shows them the bathroom. On a towel rack is one large towel marked "His" and several smaller towels labeled "Hos." This prompts a question from Jimmy, "How many 'hos' should a 'his' have?"

Music

• Pulp's fourth studio album, "His 'n' Hers", is named in reference to this phenomenon.

Web Comics

• Girl Genius, with operating tables.
• A pair of Orcs in Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic did it with their swords.

Web Original

• This poster.

Western Animation

• In one Bugs Bunny cartoon, he has a pair of towels labeled "His" and "Hares".
• In one episode of The Powerpuff Girls, Mojo Jojo has only one towel, labeled "Mine".

Real Life

• In Real Life, numerous companies still do make "His and Hers" lines of products, including everything from bath towels, bath robes, and pillows, to certain types of lubricant.
  • ThinkGeek has a chromosomal variant of the towels.
• The basis of an awful joke, a snake charmer and an undertaker get married, their towels are marked 'Hiss' and 'Hearse'.