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Posted by Max Penn on June 10, 2006, 3:00 am
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> Max Penn wrote:
> > > Why do we say 'My pants are too long' , when it's just one pant?
One
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> > > rump, not two. Singular, not plural. Granted, there are two legs
> > > attached, but they are neither pant, nor are they rump;merely
> > > leg--er...legs.
> > > So: my pants is too long. Can you shorten
> > > them? Cea
> > Speculation on my part but it could be because of how pants
> > themselves/itself evolved.
> > The idea of connecting the two leg coverings and the "breech" up to the
> > waist with a single garment came along relatively recently. It's
> > interesting that the German word for pants, "hosen" is also in the
plural
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> > form and cognate to our English "hose". So, "pants" very likely had the
> > original meaning of a pair of leg coverings and we have kept the word,
even
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> > though the item itself is now singular. I'm no costume scholar or
> > etymologist, so I could be wrong.
> >----
> --- Yaah, Max, I have been and probably am (are) hosen, too, which is
> why you cannot remember my smart-alecky personna, which is not aided in
> the least by the imbibing of pinot grigio and the concurrent inhalation
> of cheez-its, as One-- ( I -- oh---,? question to self:? perhaps I
> should use the Royal: 'We')-- attempt(s) to commune with the online
> sewing populace. Being, as you undoubtedly are, sober, you undoubtedly
> do not understand a word of this missive; yet I will persist in being
> understood, speaking very loudly and in pidgeon english, rather like a
> Bad Tourist Abroad:
> "WHERE IS--(insert tourist destination here).
> Enough about me: what have you sewn lately? I'll be reading all of
> the past posts, so I hope you have been a good, industrious little boy
> while I've been gone.
> Cea
Nothing creative but I've got tired of the temporary nature of "permanent"
laundry markers, so I'm putting proper monograms on my stuff. And BTW,
compared to the average Amjerican politician you are a model of lucidity.
Max
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> > > Why do we say 'My pants are too long' , when it's just one pant?