'Get into her pants' (was: Knickers)

[Damien Hall]

Thus Seán: (sorry about the HTML; I'm not entirely able to decode it, so I
haven't cleaned it all up):

"How old is the 'pants'=3D'underpants' usage?

Assuming it is WWI and before, it would give more immediacy and cogency to
'get into her pants' from a time when women didn't wear trousers as
regularly as they do nowadays."

I agree. 'Get into her pants' is common in BrE too, so it had never even
occurred to me that 'pants' in that phrase might mean 'trousers' and not
'undergarments'. I suppose it depends on the side of the Atlantic where
'Get into her pants' can be found earliest.

Damien

--
Damien Hall

University of York
Department of Language and Linguistic Science
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