Skivvys

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What is your definition of a skivvy? I thought a skivvy was thing with long sleeves and the long neck bit which you wear under a school shirt for winter. My friend, however, said that they're called turtlenecks and that skivvys are tight men's underwear. -_-
What do you guys call it?

 

I always thought a skivvy was what you described it to be, not tight underwear *shudder*

 

Yeah O.o''' we wondered if the 'tight underwear' was a Singlish term, but my friend said that people in America use it too... -_-''''

 

I just thought it was an unbrella term for underwear in general.

Never heard of this long sleeved thing you mention.

 

Hmm I think what Americans call 'turtlenecks' are what we call 'skivvys'. It seems to be the same thing..and I've never heard of skivvy being used in relation to underwear before. O.O'''''

 

Well in the UK skivvy is a slang term for slave / servant.

 

That's what I was thinking... "Just nip to the bar mate and get me a bag of salt and vinegar", "Yeah, do one! What do you think I am, your bloody skivvy? Get it yourself!"

 

Skivvy means underwear of any kind for me.

 

Yeah it means any kind of underwear to me too.

 

For a second there I was thinking, "Well, that's just normal clothes." Then I remembered that that's civvies. Yeah, skivvies are underwear. From briefs all the way up to long underwear.

Incidentally, turtlenecks are sweaters. You wear them over your shirt. The things you're talking about are long underwear (though it's a rare person who actually wears the shirt part, most just wear the leg part).

 

...or they wear 'long johns' which are underwear articles akin to a thin-yet-warm, usually quilted one piece 'jumpsuit' worn underneath the clothes.


And I'd like to nitpick: I'm noticing a differing syntax going along with differing def'ns:

-skivvy (pl. skivvYS) referring to 'slave' or 'servant'

-skivvy (pl. skivvIES) referring to thermal underwear, or underwear in general


And on a different tangent; if you're wondering what a North American means when they say 'turtleneck sweater', think of 'polo neck'...

 

Aussie for underwear?

@jaded empath: The plural is always -ies from a -y noun.

 

@chev - we're talking slang here - grammar doesn't always rule like it should.


But yeah, I've always read American writers referring to "they stripped down to their skivvies before jumping in the creek..."


EDIT: as an afterthought, I'd like to needle you with the sentence:

"I want you to explain the whys and wherefores of this."

OED Def'n of Why (n.)

(I know, I know - the exception that proves the rule...why can't we just all speak Esperanto...or maybe machine language? Some language with some internal consistency to it! )

[ May 29, 2007, 18:07: Message edited by: jaded empath ]

 

Finally! I found the website for a school which listed the winter uniform (my stupid school website doesn't even *have* a uniform list ).

http://www.carlingfor-h.schools.nsw.edu.au/public/index.html

@Duffin and Barmy Army
Whoa, completely different again! Haha this thread is becoming quite educational.

@Felinoid
Schools telling students to wear long underwear as part of their winter uniform...

 

If spelled "skivvies" stateside, it's any kind of (lower body) underclothes, but particularly boys' briefs/ boxers, and only rarely girls' panties. I've never heard of it including upper body underclothes.

 

What Barmy said.

 

Better than telling them not to wear underwear.

 

Hmm I guess a lot of people do use the word skivvy for underwear. Thanks for helping me clarrify this guys! ^^

@Decados
True that!

 

Well, that depends entirely on whose doing the not wearing.

 

I always thought of a Skivvies as an undershirt. Strange that everyone seems to think differantly