# Apple is pants **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 16, 2010, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-is-pants/539634 "2010-05-16T12:41:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-is-pants/539634/1 "2010-05-16T12:41:47Z")
I see this phrase on nerd-news boards now and then. ‘Apple is pants’ (or Facebook, or Kindle, or any other gimcrack hype machine). I think that I vaguely get that it’s some sort of putdown alluding to a commodity product that trades on trendiness… is that correct? Why pants? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-is-pants/539634/2 "2010-05-16T12:44:29Z")
I think it’s a Britishism, and therefore has no logical meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-is-pants/539634/3 "2010-05-16T12:56:33Z")
Pants = underpants in Britain. It’s difficult to adequately explain how that equates to ‘bad’, but it makes perfect sense to us. Edit: but I’ll try anyway. Conjures up images of something stinking. You tend to wear them to cover your arse (amongst other things). Anything to do with that area is often used to mean ‘bad’ (crap, for example). ---
**Author:** ![fubbleskag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fubbleskag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fubbleskag)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-is-pants/539634/4 "2010-05-16T13:52:23Z")
I’ve always thought it was a cockney thing: “tops” is considered a good thing; the opposite of “tops” is “bottoms”; “pants” are “bottoms”; hence, “pants” are bad. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-is-pants/539634/5 "2010-05-16T14:09:55Z")
> [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](#): > > Pants = underpants in Britain. Really? What do you call a generic set of leggings? And is the term “underwear” ever used? ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-is-pants/539634/6 "2010-05-16T14:10:00Z")
which is why I almost never wear them. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-is-pants/539634/7 "2010-05-16T14:34:21Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > Really? What do you call a generic set of leggings? trousers ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-is-pants/539634/8 "2010-05-16T22:58:22Z")
I thought “X is the pants” has a similar meaning to the “bee’s knees.” But X is pants (without “the”) sounds like an insult. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-is-pants/539634/9 "2010-05-16T23:06:42Z")
[QUOTE=Reply] Really? What do you call a generic set of leggings? [/quote] The rule isn’t universal across the country. Where I’m from “pants” and “trousers” are interchangeable, and you explicitly say “underpants” if you mean undergarments. Similarly, “pants” meaning something shit has distinctly southern English connotations to me. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-is-pants/539634/10 "2010-05-17T04:00:23Z")
[QUOTE=Capt. Ridley’s Shooting Party] Similarly, “pants” meaning something shit has distinctly southern English connotations to me. [/QUOTE] If something is shit, it’s bad, but if something is the shit, it’s good. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-is-pants/539634/11 "2010-05-17T04:47:58Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > If something is shit, it’s bad, but if something is the shit, it’s good. 😕 Same with “bad,” “ass,” and “badass.” ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-is-pants/539634/12 "2010-05-17T07:45:19Z")
“Tits,” however, is an unambiguous term everyone understands. 😃 Well, except in England, actually. \ ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-is-pants/539634/13 "2010-05-17T11:03:34Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > I thought “X is the pants” has a similar meaning to the “bee’s knees.” > > But X is pants (without “the”) sounds like an insult. That’s it, pretty much. “X is the pants” doesn’t seem to be much heard nowadays, though, as I think the negative version has lessened its appeal. Pants does generally refer to underpants, yes. “A pair of pants” would generally mean Y-fronts or something similar. Some international-type clothing shops refer to jogging trousers as “jogging pants” (or, more moronically “a jogging pant”), but you need to use some sort of qualifier like that if you don’t want to be misunderstood. Harem pants is another example. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-is-pants/539634/14 "2010-05-18T21:59:32Z")
Well, if Englishmen would change their underpants more often…