[Ads-l] Your big-boy pants

[Jonathan Lighter]

Newspapers.com:

2004 _Johnson City [Tenn.] Press_ (Oct. 14)  D1: A pack of cocktail napkins
reads "Put your big girl panties on and deal with it."

2005 _Birmingham [Ala.] News_ (Mar. 4) F4: Put your big girl panties on and
get on with it.

2005 _Sentinel Tribune_ (Bowling Green, O.) (May 9) 2: As the sign in my
hair salon says, "put on [your] big girl pants and deal with it."

2005 _Sunday World_ (Dublin, Ire.) (Southern ed.) (June 6): Being a single
gal at this age doesn't mean I'm a Bridget Jones cliche' marching around in
big-girl pants.

2007 _Post-Crescent_ (Appleton, Wis.) (Oct. 9) B-2: Thirty-seven-year-old
Melinda Polster has been told on more than one occasion to put on her "big
girl pants" to get through whatever life would throw her way.

2007 _ Times-Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) _ (Oct. 19)  B5: The cocktail-napkin
aphorism they both enjoyed - "Put your big girl panties on and deal with
it!"

2008 _Des Moines Register_ (June 25) 48: My mom told me to put my big girl
panties on and deal with it.

2010 _Bulletin_ (Bend, Ore.) (Nov. 12) 3: When something unexpected
happens...you put on your big girl pants and you deal with it.

2011 _Daily News_ (NYC) (June 17)  14: Some girls need to put their big
girl panties on.

As with "big-boy pants": Etc., etc.

JL

On Thu, Jul 17, 2025 at 4:34 PM Alice Faber <afaber at panix.com> wrote:

> 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
> >>
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


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