A few words of advice for our American friends.

njrick:
I have heard some poor souls have been known to use artificial sweeteners, but unsweetened? Heresy!

Sigh!

Just happened on this thread and my first reaction was to wonder why no one seems to have discussed British and American attitudes toward spanking. I suppose I thought that was what this site was all about. As an American who has lived in the U.K. on several occasions, I feel I've seen both sides. There often is a delicious appreciation in the U.K. for the subtler delights of spanking, especially the place of embarrassment and humiliation but not extreme pain or cruelty. The cane to me is far more fascinating an implement than the paddle, for example. And truly, the role of the British "public schools" in inculcating the disciplinary tradition is major. I did go to grade school in the U.S. and did have strict female teachers who were not permitted to spank but knew how to use what tools they had to dominate and discipline. So there has been quite a lot on both sides of the pond to consider in assaying how spanking has developed.

Isn't there enough foolish division going on right now. We certainly don't Need it in this precious library.

kerrsutherland
Our new slogan - "United by division!"

May I please add rule 15 to Hotspur's list. "You will cease using that ugly and unsexy word 'panties'. Henceforth the garment covering ladies intimate and nether regions shall be known exclusively as 'knickers'. "

davidwright2525

At risk of being labelled a traitor, I disagree: 'panties' to me suggests an innocent sweetness, something light and thin and helpless to protect - all together much sexier than 'knickers', which brings to my mind Hattie Jaques and knitwear. Besides, 'knickers' is soiled by its inclusion in idioms like 'Don't get your knickers in a twist' and plain old 'Knickers!' (as in 'Rubbish' or 'Nonsense').

But I'm sure these impressions are entirely subjective. I may not agree with your feelings about knickers, sir, but I'll defend to the death your right to hold them.

I find it interesting that nowhere within six pages of jocular jingoism do I find a comment by a female. I don't know what this means but I suspect it is an argument for more female leadership in government and business.

jimbo101946
Rather than offer an opinion that women must be mystified by matters linguistic, I'll suggest instead that they are already too busy leading to waste their time posting here.

TheEnglishMaster

But we do use the term " don't get your panties in a knot". Really, have no problem with having British stories use knickers and American ones use panties.
And then there are "undies" and "drawers" ,no idea which English speakers came up with those.
In the American South, "bloomers" is an old term for women's underpants. Strange, as this invention of Amelia Bloomer was meant as practical outerwear for women.
Love some of the names for distinctive English cuisine. However "spotted dick" sounds like a very nasty venereal disease!