"Slacks"

[Laurence Horn]

On Oct 24, 2012, at 11:56 AM, Joel S. Berson wrote:

> At 10/24/2012 10:42 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>> I never say "slacks."
>
> When you go into the clothing store, do you ask for "dress
> pants"?  Isn't that an oxymoron?
>
There's always "trousers".  But for me "dress pants" is neither ill-formed nor oxymoronic, since chinos, khakis, whatever, are non-dress pants, although I concede that "casual slacks" strikes me as more natural than "casual pants".

LH

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