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

On 2024-07-05 22:25:52 +0000, Snidely said:

On Friday or thereabouts, wugi asked ...

Op 4/07/2024 om 19:09 schreef Athel Cornish-Bowden:

On 2024-07-04 17:03:35 +0000, wugi said:
 

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).

 But pantalon is singular, though the English word derived from it, pantaloons,is plural.

 Not an explanation, but it seems like a demonstration of how English likes to see things in "double" ;-)
 

Others like Dutch have none of it in plural or "dual".

 Even twins are just one "tweeling".

 What is term for each individual twin?

In the case of my twin grandchildren (not identical, and of opposite sexes) it would be "twin". "She is a twin", "She has a twin brother", etc.

 

 

Any historic reason?

 Nah, happened mostly in the quiet times.
 /dps

--
Athel -- French and British, living in Marseilles for 37 years; mainly in England until 1987.