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From: Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid>
Newsgroups: sci.lang,alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: "a Pair of Panties" ?????
Date: Mon, 1 Jul 2024 08:37:38 +0100
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Le 01/07/2024 à 06:56, Hibou a écrit :
> Le 01/07/2024 à 04:44, HenHanna a écrit :
>>
>> A pair of pants,    or    A pair of trousers
>>
>>                   ... ok because each Pair kinda looks like  [2 pipes].
>>
>>     ...but...
>>               "a Pair of Panties" ?????
> 
> There appears to be a class of things that exist only in the plural - a 
> pair of tweezers, scissors, pliers, sunglasses... trousers, underpants, 
> knickers, tights... - things that bifurcate or are made up of two bits. 
> I suppose the briefer garments inherited the plural from longer ones 
> (though a few minutes' searching yields no support for this; briefs were 
> apparently in use in Ancient Egypt). [...]

According to the OED, 'pantalon' (Italian-French) goes back to the comic 
character Pantaloon, who wore a kind of mediaeval onesie (~1592 onwards 
in English). With the sense of 'trousers', and usually in the plural, it 
goes back to ~1661. 'Panties' for menswear goes back to ~1845 ("now 
rare"), for women's underpants to ~1904.

"As she laid herself out to stride, the other fellows used to get a fine 
exhibition of absolutely naked girl from the waist down (for panties 
were the rare exception, and not the rule then)" - 'Sydney Sportsman', 
1904/08/24.