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Saturday, August 11, 2018

TROUSERS, SLACKS, AND PANTS




I mentioned to Les that I had heard an elderly man say "trousers" and that I have always said "slacks". I made the mistake of saying, "I think trousers is one of those words which only old people use." Les leaped immediately and asked, "Then why aren't you using it?"

Les continued, "How about pants?" I said, "I know pants is an old word because I think Barbra's song Sam, You Made The Pants Too Long comes from the 1920's."

It is an OLD song, but it is from 1940. In researching, I learned that it was written as a parody of a hit song of the time, Lawd, You Made The Night Too Long which, with the title changed to Lord, You Made The Night Too Long, was a hit by Bing Crosby, which I don't think I ever heard until today.

The parody was written by Milton Berle and is probably the only parody which was more popular than the original and has outlived the original song.

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