Knickers or Breeches?

[Kenji]

I'm getting very confused about this. Knickers, I've always assumed, was British slang for undies. Why do we (in america) all call fencing pants knickers? I'm so confused

[prototoast]

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=knickers

See definition 2.

[Kenji]

Ah, makes more sense now. Thanks.

[Larrison]

Slang for "knickerbockers" , shorted to "knickers"

"Knickerbockers" traces its origin back to New York and the Dutch settlers there, and particularly to the style of pants they wore -- pants that rolled up just below the knee.

The term was popularized by the fictional author of Washington Irving's History of New York, (published 1809), Diedrich Knickerbocker, an old-fashioned Dutch New Yorker who became very popular in the literature of the time. After Irving's History "Knickerbocker" had become a local bye-word for quaint Dutch-descended New Yorkers, with their old-fashioned ways and their long-stemmed pipes and knee-breeches long after the fashion had turned to trousers. (This is where the NY "Knicks" or "Knickerbockers" basketball team's name came from as well)

Knickerbockers remained the clothing of boys, as as casual wear for well-dressed gentleman. Variations of knickers included plus-fours, plus- sixes, plus-eights and plus-tens. The "plus" in the term referred to how many inches below the knee they hung. Knickers remained dress clothing in golfing up into the 40's, but have been replaced by trousers.

But knickerbockers, or knickers, has remained the US term for pants which are gathered below the knee -- such as fencing pants.