Fly

Posted by Bob on December 21, 2000

In Reply to: Fly posted by aaaamediator on December 21, 2000

: Does anyone know why a front pants zipper is called a fly?

Actually, it's not the zipper that's the fly... it's the fold of cloth that conceals it. Fly is a very old word meaning something attached on one side, like a flag, or a tent flap, or the flap on a garment that conceals a fastener. It's related, at the root, to the sense of flying, like a flag.