When your pants begin to go

It was one of radio's odd moments that grabs you by the seat of your pants.

The affable Richard Aedy, on Life Matters, was interviewing an American gent, a journalist from NPR (National Public Radio), on the subject of the New York subway. The American said something about some people not wearing 'pants' on the train, and Richard Aedy said that he must explain, because in Australia 'pants' doesn't mean trousers, but underwear.

Is that not an odd moment in radio? I've lived in Australia for 53 years and have always referred to my breeches as 'pants'. What man in Australia doesn't call his trousers 'pants'? One thinks of Banjo Paterson's well-known book Happy Dispatches in which he uses the word 'pants', meaning trousers.

And of course, who can forget one of Henry Lawson's most popular poems, 'When Your Pants Begin to Go' (1896)? Australia's national writer is surely not talking about underwear. Here's an excerpt:

... You are none the less a hero if you elevate your chin
When you feel the pavement wearing through the leather, sock, and skin;
You are rather more heroic than are ordinary folk
If you scorn to fish for pity under cover of a joke;
You will face the doubtful glances of the people that you know;
But -- of course, you’re bound to face them when your pants begin to go ...

Who could be more Aussie than Henry Lawson? Try googling "henry lawson" pants and you'll be left scratching your head why Mr Aedy pulled up the American journalist to provide a translation of what is, after all, a good old Aussie word.

"He cautiously drew off his pants, and then stood close to the wall, in his shirt, tenderly examining the seat of the trousers."
Henry Lawson, '"Dossing Out" and "Camping"', in While the Billy Boils, 1896

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