Panties & scanties

Posted by ESC on November 12, 2002

In Reply to: Panties & scanties posted by James Briggs on November 12, 2002

: : Were men's pants (slacks) ever called "panties"? I was watching a DVD of an old movie, "42nd Street" with Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell. Mr. Powell was singing to Ms. Keeler:

: : Shuffle Off to Buffalo
: : Written by Al Dubin (lyrics) and Harry Warren (music) in 1932 for "42nd Street."

: : .I'll go home and get my panties
: : You go home and get your scanties
: : And away we'll go;
: : Mm, off we're going to shuffle,
: : Shuffle off to Buffalo

: My guess is that it's just 'poetic licence' and merely used to for rhyming purposes. I've been around almost since 1932 and I've never heard men's trousers called 'panties' - these are ALWAYS female items! Mark you, 'pants' in the UK are not trousers, but 'underpants' - 'unterhosen' in German, which is my bet where the US usage came from.

Still it was odd to hear Dick Powell sing about his panties. I guess it was a little joke.