[Ads-l] Your big-boy pants

[Alice Faber]

I'd be curious how this time-line lines up with that for "big girl 
pants" (or "big girl panties"), with similar meaning.

AF

On 7/17/25 10:50 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> I've heard this on TV a number of times in the last year, so I decided to
> dive deeper. All from Newspapers.com:
>
> 1998_Orlando [Fla.] Sentinel_ (July 31)  (Calende)r 9: That's when I tell
> them, "Put your tongue back in your mouth, and go put your big-boy pants
> on."
>
> 1999 _Birmingham [Ala.] Post-Herald_ (Mar. 31) G1: They're running as hard
> as they can each and every lap....That really opened my eyes and made me
> realize I had to put my big-by pants on.
>
>   2002 _St. Joseph [Mo.] News-Press_ (Feb. 17) D6:  Johnson's wearing his
> big boy pants....His golly-gee Wally Cleaver looks are still the same, but
> make no mistake, he's wearing his big boy pants.
>
>   2004 _Spectrum_  (Saint George, Ut.) (June 7) A3: My father-in-law, a
> not-so-old 80-year-old rancher from Idaho, has a saying: "Put on your
> big-boy pants and do it!"
>
> 2005 _Republican_ (Springfield, Mass.) (Nov. 18) 21: Sports...Ex-Pat Smith
> now on Saints..."When I was in Tennessee, Chris Brown went down and I had
> to put my big boy pants back on....Unfortunately, this happened to Deuce,
> so then I had to pull my big boy pants out again.
>
>   2006 _Kingsport [Tenn.] Times-News_ (Sept. 7)  (GoTo Guide) 17: There are
> a lot of you who need to slip on your big-boy pants before you step up to
> the keyboard and start typing.
>
> 2008 _Fort Worth Star-Telegram_  (Apr. 3) 4D:   NBA...The Mavericks' star
> hikes up his big-boy pants, tapes his ankles and hoops it up.
>
> 2010 _Florence [S.C.]  Morning News_ (June 6) 6: Give me a break! S.C.
> Department of Transportation, put on your big boy pants and oet people
> drive the bypass.
>
> My proposed derivation from the Big Boy restaurant chain was clearly in
> error. "Big-boy pants" are what many toddlers call ordinary trousers. (I
> don't believe I ever did, but who's to say?)
>
> JL
>
> On Sun, Jun 15, 2014 at 4:09 PM Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: Your big-boy pants
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> On Sun, Jun 15, 2014 at 10:33 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>>
>>> My understanding also.
>>
>> That's also the way that Judge Marilyn uses it.
>>
>>
>> --
>> -Wilson
>> -----
>> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
>> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>> -Mark Twain
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>

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