The other day I was reading in my soc book something about masculinity and the author used the word panty-waist as one of the terms boys might call each other when someone's not acting masculine enough or whatever.
I've heard this term before of course, but I had never seen it in text. Panty-WAIST? I always thought it was panty-WASTE, as in, the waste inside a pair of panties. What the heck is a panty-waist? Elastic? Boys call each other boys pieces of elastic? It would be much more insulting to call someone a stinky sticky blob of lady-fluids. I think.
I was just surprised. Ohhhhhhhh homophones, you have beaten me again.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Panty-WAIST?
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2 comments:
Pantywaists were a kind of underwear in the late 1800s / early 1900s. The undershirt and underwear buttoned together at the waist. I think that typically they were for women and girls, which is why it became an insult for "weak" / "girly" boys.
Panty waist was simply an alternative term for under waist. These garments were widely worn by both boys and girls during the 1910s and 1920s to hold up additional clothing such as short trousers, skirts, bloomers, and long stockings. Panty waists were vest-like garments with no sleeves and were made of either knitted material or a sturdy inflexible cloth such as cambric or jean. They also had built-in reinforcement straps over the shoulders and under the arms to relieve the strain of attached clothing. Waist buttons around the middle were sewn on with tape to make them hard to pull off, and garter tabs were supplied at the sides (tape loops or pin-tubes) so that pin-on hose supporters could be attached for long stockings. Panty waists were typically made for both boys and girls up to the age or 12 (or even 14). Union suits for both boys and girls also were made with "panty waist" features, i.e., extra buttons and garter fastenings.
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