The History of Women's Trousers (1)

Women and pants have had an interesting history

On May 28, 1923, the top lawyer in the U.S. said women could wear slacks. Up until that time it was not acceptable for American women to wear pants. Even with this change, however, people still considered women in trousers a shocking idea.

Today, though, times have changed, and pants are a staple in most women's closets. What are some factors that made this item of clothing acceptable?

Women's rights
In New York City around 1850, some ladies became involved in women's rights and dress reform. Many of them wore full-cut pants known as "bloomers" under their skirts. The unique-looking pants were named for Amelia Bloomer, their strongest defender. However, they were heavily criticized by most people. While some women wanted to be free of their heavy skirts, they didn't like the unpopular bloomers. Yet these early pants were a glimpse of the future as women continued pushing for equal rights.

Grammar Gym
Hi there, friends. Welcome to the Grammar Gym. My name is Liz. In today’s article we read: Even with the new law, however, people still considered women in trousers a shocking idea. That’s our Grammar Tip sentence.

Our focus today is on the sentence pattern. Sometimes people just won’t change their minds about something. No matter what the situation may be, some people still hold on to their opinions. If you ever want to talk about such people and their unchanging views about something, then consider using this sentence pattern:

Even with [a certain situation], however, people still consider [something 1] a [something 2].

For example:
Even with his experience, however, people still considered the politician an unlikely candidate for the next election.
Or: Even with all that Cinderella has done for her family, her step-mother still considers her a lazy worker.

Be sure to check out today’s Grammar Tip section for more example sentences. And that’s it for today.
This is Liz from the Grammar Gym. See you next time.

Info Cloud
Since our lesson today is about pants, let’s talk about pants today.

Great idea. OK. First of all, unlike the word “shirt,” the word “pants” is plural. Now you may wonder why. This is one piece of clothing, why is it plural? Well, there’s a bit of history behind the answer.

Now in the old days, pants came in two parts, one part for each leg. The pieces were put on each leg separately, and then wrapped and tied at the waist.

Later, when pants were made as a one-piece garment, the plural usage persisted.

So that’s how pants got to be plural. And since a pair of pants has two legs, you could refer to the legs as pant legs. For example, he rolled up his right pant leg.

Of course there are long pants and short pants. But most people nowadays just say “pants” to refer to the long version, and “shorts” to refer to short pants. And that’s why “pants” and “shorts,” even though they’re each one item, are plural nouns.

Language Lab

trousers n.
/ˈtraʊzɚz/
a piece of clothing that covers the lower half of your body, with a separate part fitting over each leg [= pants American English]

slacks n. pants, trousers. slacks is a relax, comfortable but look nice pants.


acceptable adj. 可接受的，可認同的 [ accept v. 接受]
capable or worthy of being accepted
- Smoking indoors used to be an acceptable behavior.
unacceptable adj.
not pleasing or welcome : not acceptable
- It's totally unacceptable to be tardy constantly. 
常常遲到是個不可接受的事情

staple n. 主要部分, 主題
1 a food that is needed and used all the time

2 the main product that is produced in a country
3 something that is used widely and often  
- Jeans and T-shirts are staple items in most kids' closets.
- Rice is the staple food in many Asian countries.
- Since when did information from tabloids become a staple of TV news?
tabloid- a newspaper that has pages about half the size of an ordinary newspaper and that typically contains many photographs and stories about famous people and other less serious news items

reform n.改革，革新 [re字首: 再一次 / form 形狀, 形成]
the improvement of something by removing or correcting faults, problems, etc.
- Economic reform take a long time, and it will take at least three years to see any improvement in the country.
reform v.
- The tax system needs to be thoroughly reformed.

criticized v. 批評，評估
/ˈkrɪtəˌsaɪz/
- The government was heavily criticized for is unrealistic new policy.
critic n. 評論家
/ˈkrɪtɪk/
a person who gives opinions about books, movies, or other forms of art
- This play received very good reviews from the critics.


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