People have a strange relationship with their underwear and nicknames have grown up mainly as a way of describing them in polite society and as cultural references.

Underwear is obviously a great descriptive word and describes their use exactly. But especially in Victorian times, such items of clothing were rarely mentioned, especially in the more well to do classes of society.

Many of the more established nicknames, such as knickers and panties, came about because of the original names of the clothing in question. Knickers came from men’s underwear which were called knickerbockers. And panties came from pantaloons.

But there are a whole host of nicknames to describe underwear, many derived from the original manufacturers, such as jockeys, but some which seemingly have no logical background, such as trolleys. Where this word originated in the 1950s is a mystery, although it does refer directly to knickers and panties. There of course may be some connection with the slang name for genitals, undercarriage, but various interpretations exist.

There are many offensive words and many also that could be deemed offensive, not so much in the use of the actual word, but in their meaning.

Take grape smugglers for example – two innocent words maybe, but nowadays recognised to mean tight-fitting male swimming shorts. Also known as Speedo’s (from the manufacturers of competition swimming briefs where size is important), this slang came from attempt to explain European men’s propensity to wear ultra small swimming briefs on the beach.

Much the same with banana hammock, which again refers to tight-fitting male swimwear, or indeed, tight bikinis.

And tightie whities reflects the same theme: tight underwear which leaves nothing to the imagination.

Skivvies is another well established slang term for underwear, which has gone down in folklore.

And finally, who can forget the great expression which was coined by the writers of the hit TV soap Friends and which now is a major cultural reference: going commando. This means going out wearing trousers with no underwear: radical.

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