Pick A Pair

The word pants (as in trousers) comes from pantaloons (plural too) - another word for a kind of hose. This, originally, consisted of two separate sleeves, one for each leg, which went either over or under the britches and were attached to them with strings (or points). The word trousers has a similar history. Trews were originally an individual garment, one for each leg, worn, perhaps, to protect the legs when working in a rough or cold environment. Sometime, it seems, before the 16th century the trews, hose or whatever local name they had were connected, first at the back and later at the front as well but people were so used to speaking of a 'pair' of trews or pantaloons or hose that the name stayed plural. The history and the names for various types of garment varied from place to place and I think that pantaloons originally came from France (or possibly Flanders because French doesn't often use a double 'o' and, in fact, the French for 'trousers' is 'pantalons'). That's roughly the long, short and tall of it, anyway, as I understand it. The invention of the pantyhose came too late (and overlapped the original) for them to be still called stockings and the word 'hose' had become archaic or regional by then. I suspect that the word was actually invented as a trade name (just as gramophone and phonogram were and as hoover still is - any vaccuum cleaner is referred to as a 'hoover' in the UK).

The bear is a pair. What a scare. No fair.

Well we all have a pair of cheeks...and they are exactly in the same place..some higher some lower...but we all have them..Speaking of scissors why is a pair of scissors called a pair when there is only one item..What about pair of underwear/bloomers....yeah they come in packs..most of the time...but we think of them as a pair...

Pairs or 2's..no matter cause we need one to go with the other, no? Pair of scissors are just that..2 blades together to cut just bout anything. Pair of pants cause there are 2 legs, not 1.

I looked up pair in the dictionary and it said 2 things of the same kind or it could be something make up of two corresponding pieces and pants do have two pair of legs for each of a person legs.

LOL it has been my experience that some men have a much smaller "pair" than I do!!!!

OMFG! Sconi! Don't you think that it's way too early in the year to be testing our intelligence or common sense? You couldn't have waited until the year was just a bit older? Only 3 days into the New Year and already you are testing us about pairs and the lack of "pairs"! It is way too soon to figure out about a "pair of scissors" that mean only 1, a "pair of pants" again that mean only one! You win! You are right! What's the answer? Why do we say that? What do I win? Should I just run with scissors? OMFG! It's 2010 and here we go again! I just have to say that I loves you Sconibear and Missybear too! Hugs, Opal

How silly!! It's a pair of pants cause it holds a pair of ... (Not gonna get in trouble, not me!) Oh, pair of legs. Yeah, pair of legs. There ya go. We don't consider the zipper as part of the pants, since it can be considered a weapon. (Trust me, when it grabs the wrong thing, Definitely a weapon, not part of clothing.) Was that logical? Or quasilogical? Or just queasylogical? Well, it was something anyways...

is it something to do with pants having two legs

English is a crazy language. There are so many aspects of it that are just.. unbeknownst to me! Silent "E"'s also confuse me. It's like, what's the point? But I'm guessing the "pair" dillemma dates way back.. And maybe with some investigation you'll figure out why it came to be.