pants - US versus UK

[simont]

So i presume 'pants' was originally used in Old English to mean clothing and 'underpants' was those garments used underneath them. How come we now regard pants to mean 'underpants' and no longer use the term pants to mean trousers? Also do the Americans have the word trouser also and if so what's the difference between a American pair of pants and an American pair of trousers? And finally why is it a pair? A pair of what?

[Quizmonster]

Pants - an abbreviation of 'pantaloons' - first appeared in the USA in the mid-19th century to mean trousers. In Britain, the word took on the meaning of men's undergarments in the 1920s. In the sense of women's knickers - ie panties, I believe, in America - the word was not used until the 1950s.
As for why 'pair of pants', click here.

[Quizmonster]

Just as an afterthought...knickers in America are what we in Britain call plus-fours, the knee-length trousers sometimes still worn by golfers.
Ah, the joys of a common language!

[potatan]

Also nowadays it can mean "rubbish", as in "that performance was pants!"

[EngTeach]

As an American, I would differntiate pants and trousers the following way:
Trousers-mostly applied to men's clothing and more dressy, like the bottoms of a suit. Also kind of an old fashioned word.

Pants- would apply in all cases; male/female;casual/dressy

We use Panties or undies as well as underwear to mean undergarnents. The better stores refer to that deparment as "Women's Foundations"

Tracy
PS I enjoy this site a lot!!!! Though I do have to google a lot of words and phrases that are used to bridge the gap between our two "languages". :)