# Keep Your Pants On **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 30, 2012, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keep-your-pants-on/626809 "2012-06-30T14:57:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![peterhillyard\_gmail.com](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9bcb4/32.png) [@peterhillyard\_gmail.com](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peterhillyard_gmail.com)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keep-your-pants-on/626809/1 "2012-06-30T14:57:25Z")
We are probably guilty of being impatient and rude once in a while as we wait on someone else. If we keep up our attitude, we’re sometimes told to “Keep our pants on.” I’ve never had an urgent desire to remove my trousers when I’m impatient or mad, so why would this phrase somehow suggest to “Be patient?” Ideas anyone? Best, Lem ---
**Author:** ![Yask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Yask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yask)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keep-your-pants-on/626809/2 "2012-06-30T15:28:08Z")
I guess you’ve had better luck with women than I have. At least that’s what I’ve always thought it referred to. ---
**Author:** ![brainstall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keep-your-pants-on/626809/3 "2012-06-30T15:33:22Z")
> [@Yask](#): > > I guess you’ve had better luck with women than I have. > > At least that’s what I’ve always thought it referred to. Or not, given that he has to ask this question. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keep-your-pants-on/626809/4 "2012-06-30T15:54:14Z")
I’ve more often heard the phrase “Keep your shirt on,” the idea, I suppose, being that if you had lost patience, you would remove your shirt in preparation for fisticuffs. “Keep your pants on” may have come about as a “humorous” twist on the phrase. I found a [cite (scroll down)](http://www.joe-ks.com/phrases/phrasesK.htm) that seems to support my supposition. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keep-your-pants-on/626809/5 "2012-06-30T15:57:49Z")
I wonder if it’s related at all to the concept of _getting one’s knickers in a twist_ a.k.a. _getting one’s panties in a bunch_. ---
**Author:** ![Yask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Yask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yask)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keep-your-pants-on/626809/6 "2012-06-30T17:39:28Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > I wonder if it’s related at all to the concept of _getting one’s knickers in a twist_ a.k.a. _getting one’s panties in a bunch_. Ahem. I see you too have had better luck with women than I have. :sigh: ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keep-your-pants-on/626809/7 "2012-06-30T17:49:00Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I’ve more often heard the phrase “Keep your shirt on,” the idea, I suppose, being that if you had lost patience, you would remove your shirt in preparation for fisticuffs. “Keep your pants on” may have come about as a “humorous” twist on the phrase. > > I found a [cite (scroll down)](http://www.joe-ks.com/phrases/phrasesK.htm) that seems to support my supposition. I always heard shirt as a kid and pants later. I always assumed that shirt version had been cleaned up just as I learned as a kid “eenie meenie minee moe catch a tiger by the toe” ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2012, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keep-your-pants-on/626809/8 "2012-07-01T01:51:57Z")
The first citing of this is “keep your shirt on.” Around 1860. Then, “keep your hair on,” maybe ten years later. “Keep your pants on” is a 20th Century invention.