# What is the deal with pants? I just don't get it. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 9, 2002, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-deal-with-pants-i-just-dont-get-it/141593 "2002-12-09T20:15:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wet\_marble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e0b2c6/32.png) [@wet\_marble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wet_marble)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-deal-with-pants-i-just-dont-get-it/141593/21 "2002-12-10T15:22:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SC\_Wolf \* > \*\*I’m glad you’re clear on it, because I’m not. > > Two cloth cups that lift and support. \*\* Sorry, I guess I didn’t explain it well. A brassiere is a form of a waistcoat with a stiffening matterial (generally whalebone) that is designed to support the breasts from below. When the modern bra was developed in 1913 it cannibalized the name because the new device served a similar function. The brassiere however is very different in appearance from the bra. It looks much like a corset and as such probably derives it’s language usage in the same manner as the jacket. (eg. we don’t have a pair of jackets) For more on the history of the bra check out: [http://inventors.tqn.com/library/weekly/aa042597.htm](http://inventors.tqn.com/library/weekly/aa042597.htm) [http://www.discovery.com/stories/deadinventors/dead980910/deadinventors.html](http://www.discovery.com/stories/deadinventors/dead980910/deadinventors.html) For Etymology: [http://www.geocities.com/etymonline/b5etym.htm](http://www.geocities.com/etymonline/b5etym.htm) [http://www.bartleby.com/61/77/B0457700.html](http://www.bartleby.com/61/77/B0457700.html) ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-deal-with-pants-i-just-dont-get-it/141593/22 "2002-12-10T15:41:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Irishman \* > \*\*everton said: > > > [@](#): > > > > I suspect s/he meant “a dice” is incorrect? Dice certainly is the plural of die (as in the expression the die is cast), but most of us use dice as the singular even though that’s not strictly correct. > > But that doesn’t match what Cecil said - “The terms for these objects are always plural in form…” Dice is the plural, is is pants, and shears, and scissors, etc. Dice would be the correct word in the form, since it is the plural.\*\* I’ve read that back to myself five times and I still don’t understand it. Are you suggesting that Cecil doesn’t accept the word “die” as meaning a single dice or that people don’t commonly use “dice” to mean only one of them? ---
**Author:** ![hammerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hammerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hammerbach)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-deal-with-pants-i-just-dont-get-it/141593/23 "2002-12-10T17:19:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sailor \* > \*\*When you are making love and you pant, and then you pant again, _that’s_ a “pair of pants”. \*\* Allan Sherman Lives! ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-deal-with-pants-i-just-dont-get-it/141593/24 "2002-12-10T17:46:09Z")
Sorry, blame the anal retentive Allan Sherman fan in me: “With someone you adore– If you should find romance– You’ll pant, and pant once more, And that’s a pair of pants!” ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-deal-with-pants-i-just-dont-get-it/141593/25 "2002-12-10T18:02:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Irishman \* > Somewhere along the line, _pair_ shifted usage from _coupled items making a whole_ to just _two_. In that context, “pair of dice” is correct. I don’t know. I’m not buying it yet. Are you saying that a “pair of gloves”, a “pair of earrings”, a “pair of swords”, and a “pair of eyes” all used to be incorrect? Or as **Ezstrete** puts it, they are “incorrect, but common usage”? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-deal-with-pants-i-just-dont-get-it/141593/26 "2002-12-10T18:52:12Z")
Gloves, earrings, and eyes all come in twos, and you need both to have a complete set (ok, with modern styles, earrings can be worn separately, but you wouldn’t refer to two of those as a pair). The same is true of swords, if they’re matched dueling swords (and I’ve never heard of a “pair of swords” in any other context). ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-deal-with-pants-i-just-dont-get-it/141593/27 "2002-12-10T19:10:16Z")
> [@](#): > > As for a “pair of dice”—incorrect------but common usage. C’mon, you’re saying that Mr. Meat Loaf was incorrect in speaking of “a pair of dice by the dashboard light”?? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-deal-with-pants-i-just-dont-get-it/141593/28 "2002-12-10T22:12:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > Gloves, earrings, and eyes all come in twos, and you need both to have a complete set (ok, with modern styles, earrings can be worn separately, but you wouldn’t refer to two of those as a pair). IMO, the same could be said of dice. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-deal-with-pants-i-just-dont-get-it/141593/29 "2002-12-10T22:49:35Z")
Nice pair of tit. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-deal-with-pants-i-just-dont-get-it/141593/30 "2002-12-11T00:19:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Achernar \* > \*\*IMO, the same could be said of dice. \*\* Eh? Is there another one of me around somewhere? 😕 ( 😃 ) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-deal-with-pants-i-just-dont-get-it/141593.md?page=1)