To call knickers… knickers?!

[Elroq]

Ridiculous conversation with my friend today. We were out in town shopping and I said I wanted to go into a particular shop to buy some knickers. She gave a little laugh and said ‘Knickers? Are we eight?’ And I was like ‘Huh?’

Apparently she thinks that knickers are what kids call their underwear, whereas adults need to call them other things. I have literally never heard this theory, and was like ‘Well what do you call yours?!’ She tells me that she just says ‘pants’ or ‘underwear’, but to me ‘pants’ are what blokes wear or what Americans call trousers, and ‘underwear’ isn’t specific enough cos there are bras etc which are also underwear. Knickers is a perfectly fine word! She then suggested ‘panties’ which we both agreed made us want to vomit.

i’m pretty sure I made her argument look ridiculous, not least because the shop itself called them knickers. But please tell me that I’ve not been mis-labelling my smalls for the last 25 years??

Agreed! Panties makes me feel queasy. I dated an American guy and he obviously referred to them as panties “ooh I can’t wait to take your panties off” or such like…..VOM!!

knickers I would say to my mum or sister rather than husband. I would say pants to him. But I don’t really know why!

In my head, ‘pants’ is what brisk, posh, prudish, matronly school teachers call knickers. Instantly renders them sexless and joyless.

’Knickers’ is what I would call them. Much more fun.

‘Panties’ is utterly revolting and would make my bits snap shut like a clam.

Nooo I never call them knickers, can’t stand that word. I say pants, my DH’s would also be pants or boxers. Although he calls them scruds 🥴

Knickers to me is the same as the word “purse”. I just don’t like it and I don’t know why. I used to call mine a wallet, back when I had one!

I do like unmentionables but at 53, I don’t actually call them that. 🤣

Nobody knows and Nobody cares

That when we buy knickers

We buy them in pairs

Knickers

Although my Gran wore bloomers

Knickers but 'draws' always makes me laugh.

Yes, I love it too. Cheeky but also sexy.

If I was in bed with a man and he told me to get my ‘pants’ off I’d be appalled.

It’s possibly regional. I'm Scottish and we say pants. Knickers was a rude word when I was a kid 🤣

I can’t understand the antipathy towards the word knickers. It’s got a little bit of the “ooh err - you are cheeky!” to it, but I very rarely register that and I can’t see the harm in it anyway.

Knickers are what women wear. Panties sounds like some stupid dumb American

Definitely knickers Even though I wear thongs and have done for over 25 years.
Yes, pants are what my mum wore - elasticated 'trousers' from M&S 😁
I hate the term pants for knickers.
Oh and underpants are always underpants.. Or kecks 😂

So many people getting their knickers in a twist about the word knickers...

If you don't like the word knickers, do you instead get your panties in a bunch, which I believe is the closest alternative?

Anyhoo. Knickers in this house. Pants for men's nether-coverers. And we have a Pant Parade occasionally, when I make DP, DS1 and DS2 identify which of the lined-up pants are theirs and ask again that they please, for the love of god, stop buying virtually identical pants (or at least sew name tags on them)

Love 'unmentionables'. Excellent word.

Undercrackers is another favourite.

I use knickers but I don't need to convince anyone else too or not, people can call them what they want

They’re knickers. Pants sounds too manly and like they’re a dirty grey colour, up to your armpits affair.

panties is too porno. Knickers it is.

I call them pants. I don't like knickers, but I accept it's an appropriately adult word.

Knickers are a type of loose-fitting short pants that gather just below the knee, historically worn by men and boys, or they can refer to women's underwear covering the lower trunk. The term is primarily used in the UK, where it often implies a more old-fashioned style of undergarment.

I always say knickers, my grans also said knickers but theirs had legs in.
I used to work with a very nice posh woman who always called them briefs and for some reason I found that funny!

Didn't people used to call those sort of trousers 'slacks'?

Pants! I hate the word knickers; no idea why. We also have pant liners and Bridget Jones’s big pants so it must be the right word 😜

Men’s versions are either boxers or Y-fronts (does anyone still wear those?!) Or briefs. Or jock straps 🤮 The term I’d use would depend on the shape. Whereas mine are just pants.

At least 'knickers' and 'pants' are plural - I hate it when fashion experts say 'a trouser' or 'the pant'.

ChatGPT is obviously not an expert in these matters

Boy's knickers are mentioned in "The Go-Between" set in the turn of the century 1900-ish and just as described.

As for their "undergarments" definition, The word might be old-fashioned, though I still use it, but the style? No. No mention of its being women's underwear either.

Not to derail but when I first came to Australia in the early 2000s, the lingerie part of department stores was called "Ladies intimate apparel". Wonderful. Straight out of "Ladies in Black".

What do you get out of cut and pasting from ChatGPT, exactly?

Panties is a terrible word.. knickers all the way for me