Y fronts and desperation

An area to discuss sightings and other observations. No sexual references please, there is the Stronger Interests section for that.
googlism2008
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Re: Y fronts and desperation

Post by googlism2008 »

Wow, it even depends on which part of UK you are in.
We use a mix of "pants" and "trousers" for what we wear outside, and "underwear" for what we wear inside.
Brian
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Re: Y fronts and desperation

Post by Brian »

We say "broek" which is any outer garment covering the lower body-half and encasing the legs individually, and "onderbroek" for whatever is worn under that. No confusion there. It's singular by the way - English language pluralising of these garments is very odd i.m.o. :lol:

However, of course sometimes we need to differentiate, and Dutch tends to borrow foreign words to do that, especially from English. So we know "boxer", "short" (singular!), "slip" (I think that's from the French), and a few more modern English language inventions. However we do avoid "pants" (or "pant" for that matter) so that source of huge confusion is spared us. :roll:
googlism2008
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Re: Y fronts and desperation

Post by googlism2008 »

In Chinese the corresponding terms for trousers (裤子) and underpants (内裤/底裤) are singular too. I have no idea what makes trousers/pants/underwear a "pair" either.
Sam70
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Re: Y fronts and desperation

Post by Sam70 »

googlism2008 wrote: 06 Sep 2022, 19:12 In Chinese the corresponding terms for trousers (裤子) and underpants (内裤/底裤) are singular too. I have no idea what makes trousers/pants/underwear a "pair" either.
I don’t know as well.The US also uses the plural form.
Sam70
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Re: Y fronts and desperation

Post by Sam70 »

Wombat48 wrote: 05 Sep 2022, 07:41 Just to confuse things further, I moved to Northern England, 8 years ago- here trousers are called Pants and Pants Underpants!! Lol
This is true for much of the US except often underpants are often called underwear. When I was a child I remember that many older people using the term trousers. I still sometimes hear trousers to refer to a part of a man’s suit as in coat and trousers.

I suspect that most Americans are aware of the term trousers and its definition even though they don’t use the term often.

Now that English speaking people watch movies and TV shows produced in the UK,US, and Canada, we will see more and more variances in definitions people use for these terms across the Anglosphere.
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