# "Pants" is British for "panties"
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pants-is-british-for-panties/263576
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [September 8, 2004, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pants-is-british-for-panties/263576 "2004-09-08T01:05:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pants-is-british-for-panties/263576/1 "2004-09-08T01:05:28Z")
I just learned that from “Coupling”. So if a British person asks to see your pants, don’t be bewieldered, be _offended_!
But what’s a “gusset”?
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pants-is-british-for-panties/263576/2 "2004-09-08T01:09:56Z")
Actually, it’s “underpants”.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pants-is-british-for-panties/263576/3 "2004-09-08T01:15:58Z")
IIRC, the “gusset” is that swatch of fabric that actually covers the Holy-of-Holies…the crotchpiece, as it were. 😃
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pants-is-british-for-panties/263576/4 "2004-09-08T01:18:15Z")
Ever hear of “gusset typing”? 😃
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### Author:  [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pants-is-british-for-panties/263576/5 "2004-09-08T01:21:52Z")
oh knickers 😃
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### Author:  [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pants-is-british-for-panties/263576/6 "2004-09-08T01:37:46Z")
Well then, what are “tights”?
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### Author:  [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pants-is-british-for-panties/263576/7 "2004-09-08T01:44:37Z")
Tights are pantyhose.
Well what are knickers?
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### Author:  [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pants-is-british-for-panties/263576/8 "2004-09-08T01:45:50Z")
Knickers are underpant/pants/panties.
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### Author:  [@Arch\_Trout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arch_Trout)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pants-is-british-for-panties/263576/9 "2004-09-08T01:46:55Z")
It’s all true.
Pants and underpants are the same thing here.
**American…British**
Pants…Trousers
Pantyhose…Tights
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### Author:  [@Jennyrosity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennyrosity)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pants-is-british-for-panties/263576/10 "2004-09-08T11:29:37Z")
Or alternatively, you can have “wonderpants” or “underchunders”.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pants-is-british-for-panties/263576/11 "2004-09-08T12:11:00Z")
It is also worth mentioning that ‘pants’ is used as a colloquial term for ‘inferior or otherwise generally unsatifactory’; examples:
“Have you seen _Highlander II_? I thought it was pants.”
“Although on paper, the [some car or other] looks to be an all-round good performer, in reality the driving experience is a pile of pants”
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pants-is-british-for-panties/263576/12 "2004-09-08T12:15:09Z")
Oh and other UK (slang, possibly quite local) terms for underwear include _grots_ and _skids_.
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### Author:  [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pants-is-british-for-panties/263576/13 "2004-09-08T12:25:23Z")
> [@calm kiwi](#):
>
> Knickers are underpant/pants/panties.
More to the point, knickers are female underpants. Panties tends to be used for knickers as well.
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### Author:  [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pants-is-british-for-panties/263576/14 "2004-09-08T12:25:40Z")
And _whips_. And _kaks_. (again, probably very local)
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### Author:  [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pants-is-british-for-panties/263576/15 "2004-09-08T13:19:35Z")
I have cousins near my age who were born and raised in England. I saw them every summer growing up and as a result I call jeans and work slacks “trousers,” because I was teased unmercifully when I used the word “pants” to refer to the things you put on OVER your underwear.
So, yeah.
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pants-is-british-for-panties/263576/16 "2004-09-08T13:40:00Z")
Oh, and napkins are diapers. Don’t get them mixed up.
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### Author:  [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pants-is-british-for-panties/263576/17 "2004-09-08T13:41:40Z")
Are you \*quite \* sure of that? 😃
(diaper -\> nappy)
(napkin -\> serviette)
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pants-is-british-for-panties/263576/18 "2004-09-08T13:48:37Z")
I may have been misled…
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### Author:  [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pants-is-british-for-panties/263576/19 "2004-09-08T14:06:06Z")
suspenders --\> garters.
I remember the day I learned about “pants” very well. I was walking around Earl’s Court, and some whacko has removed his jeans and was running around screaming at everyone. The police had to be called to haul him away. By buddy promptly called someone on his cell… er, mobile, and told them of a crazy guy running around the street in his pants. I almost corrected him, then I figured it out.
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### Author:  [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2004, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pants-is-british-for-panties/263576/20 "2004-09-08T23:19:17Z")
There is one context in which the American use of “pants” is closer to the British–the expression “getting into her pants”–i.e. successfully achieving a situation in which she removes her pants, presumably as a prelude to consensual sex. The way it’s used leaves little room to suppose that a woman referred to in this way was necessarily wearing slacks or jeans.
The expression “pantsuit”, meaning a fairly dressy woman’s trouser and jacket combo, must strike British ears as ludicrously funny.
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