# a "pair" of jeans **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 30, 2005, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pair-of-jeans/324148 "2005-09-30T03:28:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ayie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7feea3/32.png) [@ayie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ayie)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pair-of-jeans/324148/1 "2005-09-30T03:28:10Z")
Please someone answer this… ``` Why is it when you buy 'A' jean, it's considered a "PAIR"? or amI just not speaking the same language? :confused: ``` ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pair-of-jeans/324148/2 "2005-09-30T03:31:47Z")
Pants have evolved over the centuries. Originally, they were a **pair** of leggings laced to a diaper/codpiece contraption. Thus…a pair of pants. ---
**Author:** ![Ezstrete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ea924/32.png) [@Ezstrete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ezstrete)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pair-of-jeans/324148/3 "2005-09-30T03:56:12Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Pants have evolved over the centuries. Originally, they were a **pair** of leggings laced to a diaper/codpiece contraption. Thus…a pair of pants. Pants,among many other things, are made by combining two similar, but not identical, objects. Therefore the combining of Right and Left parts of pants make a Pair. Making pants with two right sides,or two left, would really be a fashion statement EZ ---
**Author:** ![gum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pair-of-jeans/324148/4 "2005-09-30T04:59:05Z")
How about a pair of glasses? A pair of tongs? A pair of scissors? A pair of headphones? A pair of dice and the real strange one: A pair of pajamas? ---
**Author:** ![SleepyDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@SleepyDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SleepyDuck)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pair-of-jeans/324148/5 "2005-09-30T05:09:47Z")
> [@gum](#): > > How about a pair of glasses? A pair of tongs? A pair of scissors? A pair of headphones? **A pair of dice** and the real strange one: A pair of pajamas? One is a “die” I’ve never heard any one say “a pair of pajamas” or a “pair of headphones”. ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pair-of-jeans/324148/6 "2005-09-30T05:33:16Z")
A la Gallagher, why a _pair_ of panties, but only one bra? ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pair-of-jeans/324148/7 "2005-09-30T06:11:58Z")
I say a pair of pajamas. It’s a _set_ of headphones. ---
**Author:** ![hildea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ebca7d/32.png) [@hildea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hildea)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pair-of-jeans/324148/8 "2005-09-30T07:24:03Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Pants have evolved over the centuries. Originally, they were a **pair** of leggings laced to a diaper/codpiece contraption. Thus…a pair of pants. [Here’s](http://www.historicenterprises.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=96&c=6) an illustration. A pair of pyjamas is a pair of pyjama pants, isn’t it? I’d guess that a pair of glasses is based on [this](http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=monocle&btnG=Google+Search&sa=N&tab=wi). You’d start with one glass, and at some time someone had the bright idea of placing two glasses in the same frame. It’s only one bra because, unlike pants, that garment has never consisted of two separate pieces of clothing. (At least, I’ve more than a passing interest in clothing history, and I’ve never seen anything that might fit that description.) ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pair-of-jeans/324148/9 "2005-09-30T07:32:45Z")
> [@gum](#): > > How about a pair of glasses? A pair of tongs? A pair of scissors? A pair of headphones? A pair of dice and the real strange one: A pair of pajamas? 'Well, a ‘pair’ means two objects/elements which 'match each other. So you would hear about a carriage being drawn by a ‘pair of greys’ (two grey horses of similar height and build); you might hear people referred to as a ‘good-looking pair’; in card games a pair refers to two matching cards. Originally you could have a single ‘eye-glass’ or [monocle](http://www.sillyjokes.co.uk/images/dress-up/acc/monocle-goldthread.jpg) so a _pair_ of glasses was to differentiate. Similarly you can have a single ear-piece and those who say a apir of headphones are again specifying one for each ear. (On preview I see you beat me to it **hildea**.) [This site](http://www.takeourword.com/TOW172/page2.html) (scroll down) tells you about scissors and WAG I imagine that tongs and tweezers are also pairs because at one stage they were _two_ elements joined by a third - as [here](http://grills.e-xposuredesign.com/img/8461c.jpg), that or they followed the pattern set by scissors. Pyjamas ? Swimming trunks ? Knickers ? Shorts etc. It wouuld be logical to assume that they follow the pattern set by trousers which has been explained. (Or that they are used to clothe a pair of legs.) Dice ? well you wouldn’t want to be playing with two dice of different sizes would you ? In card games you will also hear ‘a pair of Kings’ etc. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pair-of-jeans/324148/10 "2005-09-30T08:02:47Z")
> [@SleepyDuck](#): > > I’ve never heard any one say “a pair of pajamas” or a “pair of headphones”. I have, in both cases; I think those are pretty much the standard terms in my part of the UK, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![gum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pair-of-jeans/324148/11 "2005-09-30T13:08:41Z")
Thanks all. That makes sense, I guess. [When you speak English. 😃 We just call it ‘A’ pajama, or ‘A’ schaar - bril / scissors - glasses] ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pair-of-jeans/324148/12 "2005-09-30T15:38:18Z")
> [@gum](#): > > Thanks all. That makes sense, I guess. [When you speak English. 😃 We just call it ‘A’ pajama, or ‘A’ schaar - bril / scissors - glasses] I also say “a pair of pajamas” and “a pair of headphones”, so it can’t be that unusual in the English-speaking world. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pair-of-jeans/324148/13 "2005-09-30T16:13:29Z")
Cecil speaks. [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2\_249b.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_249b.html) ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pair-of-jeans/324148/14 "2005-09-30T22:29:46Z")
> [@Cecil Adams](#): > > Further confusing matters is “a dozen pairs of rosaries,” even though there are 50-some beads. This harks back to an old use of the word “pair” to mean “a set of more than two like or equal things making a whole.” Ah, hence the word “repair”. When an object was whole and functional, it was paired. Thus when it was broken in needed to be “re-paired”. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pair-of-jeans/324148/15 "2005-09-30T22:49:56Z")
> [@Phase42](#): > > Ah, hence the word “repair”. When an object was whole and functional, it was paired. Thus when it was broken in needed to be “re-paired”. Alas, no. the ‘pair’ in _repair_ actually comes from the latin _parare_ - to arrange or make ready.