The reason I ask is because we just happened to watch an episode that had an unmitigated British-only reference. It was an early episode and Sally and Susan were talking about, apparently, a Tory politician who they said could pull off being ``naked with socks''. That joke was totally lost on us, and we started thinking about what else we might unknowingly be missing.

You didn't miss this because you're American. You missed it (I assume) because you're a heterosexual male. A fair percentage of men (at least in my experience) will not, or try not taking they're socks off before sex (my last/current bf is one of these).

While it's not scary like the sight of a naked man bent over, I've yet to see a man who does not look totally ridiculous wearing nothing but his socks.