Re: "a Pair of Panties" ?????

Op 1/07/2024 om 7:56 schreef Hibou:

Le 01/07/2024 à 04:44, HenHanna a écrit :

>
A pair of pants,    or    A pair of trousers
>
                  ... ok because each Pair kinda looks like  [2 pipes].
>
    ...but...
              "a Pair of Panties" ?????

 There appears to be a class of things that exist only in the plural - a pair of tweezers, scissors, pliers, sunglasses... trousers, underpants, knickers, tights... - things that bifurcate or are made up of two bits. I suppose the briefer garments inherited the plural from longer ones (though a few minutes' searching yields no support for this; briefs were apparently in use in Ancient Egypt).

[...]
Why does English name all these things as pairs, being a single object?
Others like French have a few (lunettes, ciseaux).
Others like Dutch have none of it in plural or "dual".
Any historic reason?
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guido wugi