Why do so many women hate the word "panties"?

[Draconess25]

Google "panties", and all the results are about how it's an awful word, no one should say it, and it needs to be removed from the English language. I like it. It sounds cute and dainty. What are we supposed to call them? "Women's underwear"? That sounds stupid, prudish, unsexy, ungirly, and too bulky. I hear "women's underwear" and I think of those big white briefs that cover up the bellybutton. Why is "panties" such a bad word?

 

[goblin]

I Googled panties and all I see are sales. Are you working for Kohl's? Who says it's a horrible word?

 

[Hellhound]

Panties is a funny word.

 

[DepravedFurball]

Even more funny:

French Government Strikes Down 200-Year-Old Pants Ban for Women | Public Radio International

Took the French 200 years to allow women to legally wear 'Trousers'.

 

[Nanita]

Panties panties. I think I love it. All I do is inspired by the word panties.

 

[Ithior]

People feel offended by everything and nothing these days.

 

[Kiwong]

Undies. Undies. Undies.

 

[Flanscho]

Never heard that anyone dislikes that word. Then again, I'm living in Germany.

 

[Psychedelicious]

kick

Uhhh panties? Never heard of anyone disliking that word before. It is a funny word, but I kind of like it.

 

[MikeyC]

Actually, a female friend of mine hates the word panties. She thinks it's horrible. There must be some derogatory connotation with the word that I'm not sure about. Or it's just because it's women's underwear and it's more taboo. Maybe. :idontknow:

How about "jockstrap"? Is that a bad word for the male version of panties?

 

[Opaline]

I don't see what's so bad about it. All the other words for it sound clunky and possibly old-fashioned.

 

[LittleGloves]

I guess it's because it doesn't sound pleasant. I call them underwear instead.

 

[Nanita]

:thumbup:

 

[Ithior]

I'm ok with the english word, but the portuguese equivalent sounds quite weird to me so I avoid using it. The portuguese equivalent I'm thinking of refers to both male and female underwear with the shape of panties (the word doesn't refer to boxers for example).

 

[BlackPuma]

I haven't met that many people that hated the word 'panties', but I have met a ton that strongly hated the word 'moist'. Which is curious, as I can't really see how that's a dislikeable word at all. It could be dislike through association I suppose.

 

[MikeyC]

I haven't met that many people that hated the word 'panties', but I have met a ton that strongly hated the word 'moist'. Which is curious, as I can't really see how that's a dislikeable word at all. It could be dislike through association I suppose.

Oh, yeah. That word is almost exclusively sexual these days.

As for me, I always think G-rated. When I hear "moist," I always think of those wet napkins you get at KFC.

 

[Draconess25]

I don't see what's so bad about it. All the other words for it sound clunky and possibly old-fashioned.

Exactly! Dx For me, "underwear" makes me think of big baggy white things with thick waistbands. Or men's underwear. I actually get pissed when people call my panties "underwear". I take it as an insult.

 

[jc972]

I don't see nothing wrong with the word, myself. "Women's underwear" or "Women's underclothes" just don't sound nowhere near as sexy.

 

[MikeyC]

Exactly! Dx For me, "underwear" makes me think of big baggy white things with thick waistbands. Or men's underwear. I actually get pissed when people call my panties "underwear". I take it as an insult.

It reminds me of that scene from Bridget Jones's Diary.

In Australia we call them "knickers," too, but maybe that's just a local dialect.

 

[Kiwong]

There was one journalist who wrote she didn't like her doctor using the word when she was being examined, because it has soft porn like connotations.

I think it is an American word, they were always called undies where I grew up.