Is there a woman alive who still uses the word 'Panties' ?

[MILlovesBegonias]

& I'm not talking about for little kids. I HATE this word. I confess I'm biased as I had some unfortunate incidents as a kid but really? Panties, it's SO old-fashioned. Yet I saw the word used in signage in Victoria's Secret today. It just gets under my skin. Knickers, pants, kecks, grundies, ANYTHING but panties.... bleurgh...

Ironically? FFS Give me strength. It's soft porn language used by overweight aging narcissists of any gender.

It’s an American word really isn’t it? There is something really cringe about though, I agree.

My DH once tried to use it seductively (“take off your panties 😉”). Needless to say he didn’t get any that night.

It makes me think of sleazy pornos or cheesy rednecks punching above their weight. Eugh.

Harry? I’m really hoping that was a crossed post. Sitting on my fat arse so to speak still calling them panties. As in panty liners. Now I feel weird I’ve been asking my 16dd to sort out her panty drawer.

It’s just American for knickers so I'm not surprised you found it in VS. I cannot bring myself to say it, I think it sounds sleazy in a British accent! So whilst I agree with you that it’s a horrid word YABU to think that an American brand shouldn’t use it. Obviously they’re not going say pants as that means trousers and kecks/grundies- I’ve never heard these terms before! Are they regional?!

i call them panties but have to be mindful that my daughter knows its underwear/knickers as we are in the UK.

Is it used in Scotland as well? My Scottish aunt used to use it. Since myself and cousins are grown up now I haven't had cause to hear her refer to underwear in many years so I have no idea if she still does, but yes these days it sounds American to me.

Keks is northern.

My grandmother says "panties". She is 96 though.

As an American, I don't know what the big deal is about panties. Kecks/grundies now....

The big deal is that it somehow sounds both sexy and infantile at the same time which makes most people feel squeamish at the combination. I think in US English it doesn't have the diminuative feel of talking to a small child so you don't get this juxtaposition and hence it's not creepy.

Dulc - when I said the word was possibly still used abroad, I meant in America but didn't like to say. Thanks for saying it!

Dreadful word. Cringe if I ever heard anyone using it in all seriousness.

I have a very dear US-born friend who has a habit of saying, in crisis situations which require a stout heart or a stiff upper lip -- 'Well, I'm just gonna have to pull on my big girl panties'. Which always makes me feel the situation is far worse than I feared...

It's common in the USA, as has been said.

My father used the word a lot in the 70s which is why I cringe. I agree with someone upthread who spoke about 'sexy' but infantile at the same time. It reeks of soft porn to me.

I say panties. To refer to the little shorts that WWE wrestlers wear.

I have a very dear US-born friend who has a habit of saying, in crisis situations which require a stout heart or a stiff upper lip -- 'Well, I'm just gonna have to pull on my big girl panties'. Which always makes me feel the situation is far worse than I feared...
Yes, that is a common phrase here. Outside of that saying, though, most of the people that I know use the term "underwear" when referring to knickers. (It took me forever to realize that knickers were underwear, btw. I thought that they were some sort of pantaloon....)

This thread is so weird. It's just an American word. It's surely not news that British and American people use different words for some things.

A lot of the posts on this thread reek of the anti American sentiment that is so common on here.

It makes my skin crawl. My mother always corrected me when I called them knickers so that's probably why I think the word is the work of the devil.

Margaret Thatcher used to say it. True fact.

Many years ago I had a boyfriend who used the word panties.

He was a twat.

Every couple of years when I buy new winter boots, I put them on and flash my knickers at my husband whilst singing I'm Partial to your Abracadabra in tribute to the 1977 Ian Dury classic album New Boots and Panties. It has become a tradition that I'm now unable to stop.

No other use of this word is permissible.

American work colleague used to tell me “ok ok don’t get your panties in a bunch” which had me cringing and guffawing at the same time. I used to tell her not to get her knickers in a knot and she was equally appalled/amused.

I'm American. I know they are generally called panties, but I've always thought it sounds like they belong to a child. Here, when we say "underwear", it really only applies to underpants, not bras and slips and such. So, I usually say underwear.

This is my WORST, MOST LOATHED AND HATED Americanism! I just cannot express how much it makes me cringe!