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

Le 01/07/2024 à 12:38, occam a écrit :

On 01/07/2024 07:56, Hibou wrote:

>
I observe that the kilt is singular - two legs, but only one hole.

 While in Aberdeen, the question arose: "what's the difference between a
kilt and a skirt? What do Scottish women wear?"
 The wittiest answer I got was that Scotsmen call it a 'kilt' to avoid
the embarrassment of having to admit that they are wearing a skirt.

That may well be true; certainly one encounters considerable resistance among Scots, both men and women, if one calls a kilt a skirt. This, I think, is just a matter of time and place. At other times and places, it has been and is normal for men to wear skirts - Roman legionnaires did, for instance.
According to the OED, the noun 'kilt' (~1746...) comes from the verb 'to kilt' (~1340...), at first meaning to tuck (skirts etc.) up round the body, and later also to gather in vertical pleats....
"I'll kilt my coats aboon my knee, And follow my love thro' the water" - Burns, 1788.
I have heard a tale of Scots soldiers' in the First World War, of water freezing on the hems of their kilts and chafing their legs raw. Just the thought makes one wince.