To think that women's knickers are not called pants?

[Anonimousy]

This really annoys me and I can't work out why.

Men wear pants or boxers. Or Y fronts.

For me, pants are trousers/shorts/lower limb garments. Knickers or undies are what we call underwear.

I'm a mother of ds's and it's always been pants in this house for as long as I remember, I also find 'knickers' an off putting word.

Sorry, I call them knick knocks.

I make myself cringe.

I think knickers sounds better than pants for a woman's underwear. Pants sounds too harsh and masculine. Knickers is also a horrible word but better than pants. As for panties - urgghhh. Someone needs to invent or import a new word for them. What are they called in French? I bet they have a great word for them.

I'm with you OP, Knickers for girls, pants for boys.

Knee length donkey droppers

Red - I feel exactly the same as you about it. Knickers is also far from ideal!

U2- Im going to send my sister to live with you - you can both knick knicks and knick knock away

me too OP - I have knickers as do my dds, dh & the boys have pants!

undergrundies anyone?

Knickers = what old people call them
Panties = what men call them
Pants - what they are.

Pants always reminds me of Rik's song ...

dh sometimes calls them his undercrackers

Old people? Really??

I just call them underwear

I watch so much American crap that when someone mentions pants I actually have to stop and think about what they are talking about (trousers or underwear)

can't stand panties either

En francais, Pantalon!

I feel the same and am from the uk - women wear knickers and men wear pants and I don't mean trousers.
It's a horrible word that makes me feel a bit queasy. Even worse when usa women refer to their trousers as 'pants' gag

I come from a place where pants are trousers(outerwear) and underwear is either knickers or underpants.

Now I sometimes say pants for knickers and am careful to say trousers for outerwear.
"Panties"-yuck

Pants and knickers generally interchangeable IMO, but by default I would use pants, as I don't then have to differentiate - so I can tell both DC to assemble "pants, socks, uniform" without getting into specifics. Similarly packing list for holidays etc.

Panties is definitely shudder-inducingly awful,

They're knickers here and always have been.
'Panties' gives me the creeps. Probably not helped by the fact that a pervert used the word during a dirty phone call I received as a young teenager.

I live in a majority male household. I don't know if that's why I call them all pants.
Am sure I used to call MY OWN underbottoms knickers.

It has always been pants here. Knickers just sounds silly.

On the other hand, I could easily adopt the term "knee length donkey droppers". I love that. Where on earth did he dream that one up from?

Or une culotte, take your pick :)