Quote Originally Posted by prey4me
Slave 80210,

That really happened? What a hoot! That could be the genesis of one heck of a story. If I ever break out of my nc/bdsm mold, I might try that for humor. Now what if the janitor were watching, or videotaping....I could work with that!

We need a glossary of British underwear nomenclature. I remember, for example, when I was very young, being confused by the term "buggery." What's the difference between bloomers, knickers, and panties? I thought they were one and the same.
Yes, it really happened. It was a long time ago and (I assume?) things are different in this brave, new, politically correct world, but that sort of thing happened when I went to school. We also had school 'Prefects' (girls in their senior year) who were permitted to summarily discipline younger students for minor infringements of school rules. I wasn't the type to ever break the rules, although I was once caned by them for nothing. Well, I thought it was for nothing, but it's a long story. *hehe* I wrote a story about it ages ago and embellished it a little bit, but it's mostly true and I'll post it to my blog later tonight.

As for underwear -- bloomers are exactly the way I described them. They're like a giant pair of oversized shorts with an elastic waistband and elastic around the tops of the legs. Imagine a girl wearing full-sided briefs that have been inflated to a huge size, and you start to get some idea. They can be quite comfortable actually, if they're not made of wool, but they're totally impractical to wear under anything except long, full skirts ;-)

Panties can be used for everything except bloomers. A g-string or thong, for example, could be called panties but mostly the term is used to mean briefs. These come in a variety of styles from the full-sided ones (which would include 'sports' types of underwear) to 'hipsters' that have not sides but still cover most of the front and back.

Briefs can be interchangable with panties (figuratively speaking ;-) ) There's a few brand names as well -- Cottontails and Bonds, for example, that are used to mean briefs.

Knickers is a colloquial term that could mean any type of underwear and even can be used to mean shorts for either men or women. Another Brit term meaning the same thing is 'duds' and sometimes you'll hear 'under-duds' colloquially for any sort of underwear worn like panties. Not bras and things, in other words.

Knickerbockers are a knee-length style of shorts (not underwear), although I think the word can also be used for bloomers. I think the term was also used for the shorts worn by school boys in the 50s and 60s (See: Knickerbocker Holiday) A more contemporary word (from the late 70s/80s) would be 'peddle-pushers', named so for their utility purpose of allowing women/girls to ride bicycles without resorting to the immodesty of shorts that tended to creep up between one's bum cheeks, or long pants (prone to getting grease stains on the inside of the leg from the chain) or dresses (which get caught in the spokes of the wheels).

Pants -- a unisex word meaning any type of garment with legs. Varieties include 'short pants' and 'long pants' with the former often used specifically to mean schoolboy shorts and the latter meaning anything from 'slacks' to jeans or suit pants. Incidentally, there is no such thing as 'pant' as a singular for pants. Only SHEEPS say PANT. *hehe* You will get 'pant suits' though, which are combination sets of long pants and matching jackets for women.

Slacks these days usually refers specifically to long pants worn by women, although the tight fitting nylon trousers worn by men in the late 60s and early 70s (See: Safari Suits and Flares) used to be called slacks as well. Like pants, slacks only come in pairs and so there's no singular 'slack'.

Jackets (which I think is a universal term for any coat?) are types of coats for men or women and can be used for specific types such as blazers (usually meaning specifically a school uniform jacket or coat)

A Singlet is an undergarment worn under a top (everything from a T-shirt to blouse) originally made of cotton though these days there's lots of lovely satins ones as well for women. Singlets for men were intended as an aid to stop perspiration staining their shirts, though construction workers and so on will wear singlets and no overshirt.

Spencers are a singlet made of heavier material for warmth in colder places. As mentioned in my story, even back then they had long gone out of fashion though very old people might still wear them or use the word.

Tunics are used to describe school girl dresses that are one piece, as opposed to a blouse and skirt combination.

There's probably dozens of others that have slipped my mind, but I hope that helps to get you started

As for 'buggery', the word would never be used in polite society because of its original meaning -- anal sex. Expressions such as "bugger it!" (damn/fuck it!), "it's buggered" (it's broken/fucked) and simply "bugger!" (damn/shit) have been widely used by 'common people' since about the mid to late 60s. "Go to buggery!" (get lost!) did have currency for a while back then too, but people under 40 years of age or so aren't likely to have heard it. Translations of de Sade often use 'bumfuckery' in place of buggery. *hehe*