Why are pants, trousers, shorts, and jeans plural in English? Rob in Barnstable, Massachusetts, asks about garments that are now usually one piece, unlike socks. The plural goes back to older two-legged garments made as separate pieces fastened at...
Writers and where they do their best creative work. A new book on Geoffrey Chaucer describes the dark, cramped, smelly room where he wrote his early work. Which raises the question: What kind of space do you need to produce your best writing...
The US Southern nickname whistle britches likely started with corduroy trousers, whose wales make a soft whistling or swishing sound as a wearer walks. Marshall from Point, Texas, heard his East Texas grandfather use it for men who seemed...
Here’s a great Southernism: “If someone’s nothing but breath and britches, and means they don’t amount to much.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Breath and Britches” Grant, I have a...
