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toff and pants

Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2021 12:20 pm
by Eileen Opiolka
Apparently the Hebrew word for "good" in the Genesis story of creation is "tov". Dutch has "tof" for "good" . I wonder if this is linked to the English "toff"?

And staying with religion, I have read that "pants" comes from "pantalone" which originated from Pantaleon, a 4th century martyr. See Wikipedia:
San Pantaleone or Pantalone was a popular saint in Venice, and he therefore gave his name to a character in the commedia dell'arte, Pantalone, a silly, wizened old man (Shakespeare's "lean and slippered Pantaloon") who was a caricature of Venetians. This character was portrayed as wearing trousers rather than knee breeches, and so became the origin of the name of a type of trouser called "pantaloons," which was later shortened to "pants".[16]

Re: toff and pants

Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2021 8:01 pm
by Slava
Does anyone else think the subject line of this is a great name for a British pub? The Toff and Pants.

Then again, as pants has a different meaning in British English, maybe it's not such a great idea?