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According to some, the phrase “pair of pants” harkens back to the days when what constituted pants—or pantaloons, as they were originally known—consisted of two separate items, one for each leg. They were put on one at a time and then secured around the waist.
Why do we say pair of jeans?
“Pair,” from the Latin, means two like things. And pants (pantaloons) were originally two like things. You put them on one leg at a time because they actually came in two pieces. From the beginning, about the 16th Century, pants have been referred to as a pair.
Is it correct to say a pair of jeans?
To talk about one piece of clothing we say “a pair of jeans”. For more than one we say “pairs of jeans”. You can also just say “jeans” for one pair. To call it “a jean” is incorrect.
Why do they call it a pair of pants a pair of shoes and a pair of spectacles but a bra is just a bra?
Why do we say “a pair of panties” and not “a pair of bras“ ? Panties is a plural noun. It’s the short for pants. In the same way, things like “glasses”, “spectacles”, “goggles”, “tweezers”, “scissors”, etc are always in plural form and will always have a two-ness about them.
Why is a bra not called a pair?
Not because of the dual nature of the breasts themselves, but because the garment came in two parts and was laced together. That’s probably why the modern woman doesn’t put on “a pair of bras” in the morning.
Why do we say pants not pant?
It’s a shortened adaptation of pantaloons, those tight-like leg coverings worn by pirates and Shakespearean characters. And in those eras of 300 or 400 years ago, before pants were a single entity, pants were actually two separate garments.
What is the singular form of pants?
“Pants”, originally from “pantaloons”, is plural, used with plural verbs, as in “My pants are on fire!” or “Those pants have your name written all over them.” Its singular, “pant”, hath not an s, and is used (however rarely) to refer to a pant leg.
How many pants is 2 pairs?
Since most people have two legs as part of their anatomy, “pants” have two areas that cover the legs. One pair would equal a pair, or two. Two pairs would mean a total of four garments. Therefore, “two pairs of pants” indicates there are four garments involved.
How many pairs of jeans should you have?
So how many jeans you should own basically depend on how much variety in style you want in your life. You could probably get by with 3 pairs of jeans, but I generally recommend 5-6 pairs depending on how often you wear jeans at work.
Is a pair always 2?
Pair, brace, couple, span, yoke are terms for groups of two. Pair is used of two things naturally or habitually associated in use, or necessary to each other to make a complete set: a pair of dice. It is used also of one thing composed of two similar and complementary parts: a pair of trousers.
Is a bra called a pair?
I do understand that you’re referring to the fact that any clothing apparel or accessory that consists of two body parts is acknowledged with the term of ‘a pair of’ but in this case — the term Brassiere is one single word which includes the set of two breasts as per the old english which bas now shortened to Bra.
What does bra stand for?
A bra, short for brassiere or brassière (US: /brəˈzɪər/, UK: /ˈbræsɪər/ or /ˈbræzɪər/; French: [bʁasjɛʁ]), is a form-fitting undergarment typically designed to support or cover a woman’s breasts.
Why was pants a dirty word in England?
We don’t know that the “vulgar exceedingly” characterization had anything to do with another use of pants or not, but in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, pants appeared in an insulting assertion about a person’s name: to say that someone’s name was pants meant to say that you didn’t like or trust that person,.
In which century in England was pants a dirty word?
– Did You Know? In England, in the 1880’s, ‘Pants’ was considered a dirty word.
Why do we say pair of scissors?
In Vulgar Latin, caesorium referred to a cutting instrument, and this Latin word was singular—even though the cutting instrument it named had two blades that slid past each other. We began calling an individual scissors a pair to emphasize the matched cutting blades.
Why do pants have an S on the end?
The word is derived from the old Irish word triubhas, which was singular, and referred to close-fitting shorts. The S at the end led people to assume it was a plural word, thus leading to trousers being plural.
Is a pair of pants plural?
A pair of pants is singular. Pants, including just one pair, are plural.
What is plural child?
The plural form of the noun child is: children.
Is pair already plural?
Is it singular or plural? A pair is two of something, but a pair can be singular or plural—it’s one of those odd English nouns (like “couple”) that can be singular or plural depending on how you’re thinking of the people or items in question.
Do we say a pair of shorts?
Don’t say `a pants’ or `a shorts’. You can say a pair of pants or a pair of shorts. He is wearing a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. You use a singular form of a verb with a pair of pants or a pair of shorts.
