Saturday, February 26, 2005

Silver lining

One good thing about having surgical incisions right where the waistband of my pants go is that now when I'm at work and someone asks, "Why the hell aren't you wearing any pants?!?", I'll actually have a good reason.

8 comments:

Hugh Janus said...

I don't care what those work people say, you don't need a reason to go pantsless.

And before anyone corrects that to 'pantless,' ask yourself, "what the hell is a 'pant?'"

Then again, where the hell did the term 'pants' come from?

What the hell do either of those words mean? I've read both and said both so many times in my head as I typed this, that all words containing 'pant' have lost all meaning.

The person who coined that term must have been mental.

"Coined?" What the hell does that have to do with creating a word?

You can see where this is headed. I'll stop before this post is infinity+1 long.

Erik with a K said...

Just take you pants off already.

John said...

I never ask why you're not wearing pants. I just assume you were getting out of your car and when you slammed the door your pants got caught. And then as usual your keys were also in there. So you took off your pants and headed in like usual.

Hugh Janus said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Hugh Janus said...

Sarah, I apologize for this post being completely unrelated your posts but rather one of your comments on my blog.

larynx vs. larnicksFor whatever reason, we have the Channel 5/WEWS news on and they were doing a story about the pope and the reporter said that the pope "ut his hand to his throat to signal that he couldn't speak because he had to rest his LARNICKS"

I swear to god. And you've never heard that before.

Johnny Virgil said...

Well, it's like this: A Christian doctor was condemned to death by the Romans in the 3rd century for aiding the poor. He was to be beheaded but survived the six attempts to take his life. Later the Church canonized him, giving him the name "Saint Pantaleone." "Pan" is Greek for "all' and "leo" is the Latin word for "lion". He was given this title to recognize his strength and courage. In time he became the patron saint of physicians. Looking for such courage and strength in their sons, numerous boys were christened with his name.

Where did "pants" come into this picture? In ca. 800, in comic drama according to Robert Hendrickson in his book " Facts on File, An Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins", the fool in a comic production was called panteleon...all lion. In time this changed to "pantaloon". The actor was dressed in breeches that were tight below the knee but which bloused out in a full puffy fashion from the waist to the knee.

In the 18th century the costume became one worn by many men. This famous portrait found in the Louvre shows Louis XIV in a full pose, showing off his legs in a ''pantaloon'' costume. The term was shortened to "pants" in the 1840s. The term pantaloons continued to be used when referring to the undergarment worn by women under hoop skirts in the same period.

Shamus O'Drunkahan said...

Johnny, I think you posted your encyclopedia writing correspondance course homework here by mistake.

Johnny Virgil said...

Hey, The More You Know.