To refer casually to briefs-style men's underwear, is it Tidy Whities or Tighty Whities?
Which way would you spell it, and why?
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Tight, because they are snug
"tidy" doesn't make sense.
They're literally tight.
But in being tight, they keep everything in place and organized... Tidy!
Well, I thought it was a valid argument! :)
I think you're onto something for sure.
Its Tighty whities
Tighty as opposed to loose boxers (before boxers were made out of stretch material and became tight as well).
“tidy” and “tighty” are not alternatives spellings, or synonyms
Tidy means well kept, clean, put away
Tight relates to how much the underwear is “gripping/holding” while worn
They're not synonyms, but they are close enough that when said quickly they can be homonyms
Thats very accent dependent
That's a good point
Tighty-whities. They're pretty tight, and also equally white.
My question is does the phrase specifically identify briefs, or would boxer-briefs also count? 🤔
tidy doesn't rhyme, and, uh, in my experience doesn't rescribe the briefs either
No, I can see why some Americans might confuse them, with a "baddle of wadder" accent.
Tiddy Widdlers