Saturday Child: One leg at a time. Tony Deyal of Barbados discusses the potential for hilarity in mixing up the British and North American meanings of "pants."
We were told a marvelous "pants" story by our friend - let's call him Yank - who had just returned from an extended sojourn in London, working with a group that included Muslims. Yank told a British friend - let's call him Bobby - that he had noticed that a woman was wearing red trousers under her burkha. He said he was surprised to see the red pants peeking out. However, Yank didn't get the reaction he expected:
Yank: I was surprised to see that she had on red pants.
Bobby (visibly shocked): Red pants! How did you see that?
Yank (confused, gesturing to his pant cuffs): They were sticking out underneath.
Bobby (relieved, laughing): Oh, you mean red TROUSERS. PANTS means underwear. I couldn't imagine how you'd seen that!
Nice, Pam!