Underwear: My Contribution to its downfall in polite conversation.

[MANICHAEAN]

UNDERWEAR: MY CONTRIBUTION TO ITS DOWNFALL IN POLITE CONVERSATION.

I was considering placing this subsidiary thread in the “Serious Discussion” category, but was sufficiently craven to avoid the wrath of the moderator.

A question has arisen from Mark Bastable’s recent story, of what is the current, definitive term to be used to describe ones underwear. And in the interests of not wishing to appear sexist, this matter should not be limited to women only, but should range over the entire exotic spectrum of other species.

Let me for the sake of clarity, enumerate some of the terms used from my own experience i.e.

1.Female Underwear:

“Unmentionables” (Victorian), “underclothes, knickers, pants,” (not to be confused with the US interpretation), “panties, briefs, thongs, tap pants, cheaters, tangas & G Strings.”

2.Other Species:

“Pants, snuggies, skiddies,” (please don’t ask me to explain the latter), “Y fronts, jockey shorts, briefs, boxers, long johns, thermals, tightie whities, Kleins, trunks, fundoshi,” (Japan), “banana hummocks & grape smugglers.”

Regards
M.

[Disagree]

I've always referred to my underwear as, um, "underwear". I personally hate the word panties. It sounds so stupid. I wear men's boxer shorts as pajama bottoms in the summer and I simply refer to them as "boxers". I'm afraid I'm terribly bland in describing my underwear. Oh the shame...:p

I will have to go read the short story you are referring to.

[MANICHAEAN]

Thats interesting Disagree.
One of my old girlfriends always used to wear my boxer shorts.
In fact she still has retained two pairs of them, as she swears they were so comfortable.
Best regards
M.

[MarkBastable]

Both myself (Brit) and the Beloved (Yank) refer to male and female underwear as knickers when in the UK.

However, when speaking to other Yanks or when in the Land of the Free, she reverts to using the word panties for female underwear and shorts for male underwear, whether or not they are actually shorts, which, as I understand it, means boxers, which I never wear as I consider them unreliable and treacherous.

[OrphanPip]

Usually I use underwear for both women and men. Montrealers frequently use panties for women's underwear, but I don't think I've heard someone use the American "shorts" or "drawers."

[prendrelemick]

Under keks, of course. and undies for the Mrs.

[Delta40]

Knickers n' Jocks

[iamnobody]

I like the word "panties", it's ultra-feminine and pretty sounding. I use underwear only when referring to the male version.

[papayahed]

I use the term panties for both male and female under garments but that is only to annoy the men around, in much the same vain that I use the term "blouses" when refering to men's shirts.

[faithosaurus]

I use undies and panties for girls and usually just underwear or boxers for men.

[Cunninglinguist]

I have a propensity for the British vernacular, especially for the word "knickers." And lol @ papaya.

[Revolte]

I usually refer to them as "in my way"

[Disagree]

Thats interesting Disagree.
One of my old girlfriends always used to wear my boxer shorts.
In fact she still has retained two pairs of them, as she swears they were so comfortable.
Best regards
M.

Yep. Very comfortable. I think I still have some of my ex's boxers still floating around somewhere. I guess I retained custody. :)


I use the term panties for both male and female under garments but that is only to annoy the men around, in much the same vain that I use the term "blouses" when refering to men's shirts.

In other words, getting the menfolk's panties in a bunch? :p

---
Eh, I was in such a rush to make my terrible joke about bunched panties, I forgot what else I was going to say. A previous poster mentions his wife's use of the term "panties" when she is in the US but otherwise using different terminology. I wonder if terms like that are regional? For example, in New England many of us use the term "wicked" as a way to show emphasis. So if I was to describe the weather today, I could say it was wicked nice out. When I've spoken to some folks (either other Americans not from my area or people from outside of the US) they have no idea what I mean.

Perhaps the terms used to describe one's underwear could be a similar phenomenon. I've rarely heard any other term (amongst women) other than plain old underwear for the most part, although "thongs" (nasty things, those) does make an occasional appearance.

At any rate, I am done with my underwear theorizing for tonight.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

I've always liked "banana hammock."

For women, panties just sounds sexier.

[MANICHAEAN]

If my calculations are correct, the results of the poll to date are:

• “Panties”: 4.5 votes.
• “Underwear”: 3 votes.
• “Knickers”: 2.5 votes.
• “Undies”: 2 votes.
• “Thongs / banana hummock / underkeks / jocks / boxers / in my way”: 1 vote each

An interesting side result was, 2 votes for cross dressing by the ladies, but none for the men!

Ann Summers & Janet Reger please note.

M.

[JuniperWoolf]

I was considering placing this subsidiary thread in the “Serious Discussion” category, but was sufficiently craven to avoid the wrath of the moderator.

Correction: the wrath of serious cat. You don't want him as an enemy, trust me.

Oh, and on topic: I use the word "panties," because anything else sounds grandma-ish to me, which isn't something that I want to associate with... ugh. I'm ending that sentence.

[Shalot]

I've always referred to my underwear as, um, "underwear". I personally hate the word panties. It sounds so stupid. I wear men's boxer shorts as pajama bottoms in the summer and I simply refer to them as "boxers". I'm afraid I'm terribly bland in describing my underwear. Oh the shame...:p

I will have to go read the short story you are referring to.

I agree. I hate hate hate HATE the word panties. It's gross. I remember being on a date with this guy and he was talking about a party where the women got drunk and got down to their underwear but he kept calling them panties. And with his accent, it came out like "Painties" VOMIT VOMIT VOMIT

(I didn't go out with him long...)

Oh, and I occasionally use the word drawers but it's usually to relate a funny story about underwear...drawers is just a funny word for it. Once when I worked at the grocery store deli, a coworker returned from the men's room and announced the following: "Someone has done crapped his drawers and SLUNG them in the corner..." (I live in the southern united states." I think the word "drawers" was totally called for in this situation. I pictured tightie whities, with the inside out. Otherwise, how would coworker have known that those drawers were indeed crapped in?

Oh, and tighty whities - I like to use that term when talking about men's underwear, whether they wear briefs or not. I always thought tighty whities were so stupid looking but boxers tend to gap open, and I would just rather NOT see that. Tighty Whities are just fine I guess, as long as they're clean. No streaks please. Thanks