The semantics of hosiery
December 30th, 2008I’ve noticed that people are getting confused when I talk about hose and hosiery. Unfortunately I have been negligent with the use of these words, carelessly substituting the one for the other when they actually don’t have the same meaning.
- “Hosiery” refers to everything that can be bought in the hosiery section of a department store (excluding socks). The term covers all variations and styles of stockings, pantyhose, nylons and tights.
- “Hose” is a shortened version of the word pantyhose, which is a type of hosiery. A pair of hose is not a pair of tights. Hose is usually sheer and transparent whereas tights are generally thick and less see-through.
To make matters worse, I sometimes incorrectly use the word “stockings” as a substitute for the word hosiery. This is a habit I learned at school, where we referred to the hose and tights that we wore with our uniform as “stockings”. Stockings actually refer to the thigh-high hose that are held in place with garter belts. I can assure you that I did not wear those to school.
From now on I shall use the words hosiery, hose and stockings correctly. Of all people I should know better and apologize for the mix-up. Interestingly, I thought that “laddering” was a universal term (for example, see my recent post on hosiery sizes). Apparently, in the US, people say something along the lines of “I have a run in my nylons” when they’ve laddered their hose. I guess we can’t help but lose some things in translation.
December 30th, 2008 at 8:51 am
As a funny aside to this, when I worked in a clothing store that sold pantyhose (nylons), my coworker refered to them as, “Two pairs of pantyhose, one pantyho” (!). I didn’t have the nerve to correct her.
December 30th, 2008 at 9:22 am
Hilarious! Thanks for the morning giggle, Sheila.
December 30th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Brendan says laddering too.
So, are micro-fishnet hosiery–are those a form of tights, or a form of hose?
December 30th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Angie, you crack me up. I hope you weren’t getting hate mail about this.
Sent my readers your way for apple-shaped-figure advice today, BTW.
December 30th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
“Stockings actually refer to the thigh-high hose that are held in place with garter belts. I can assure you that I did not wear those to school.”
Yes, but think of how many dates you would have gotten if you had!
Thanks for the clarification and have a great New Year!
December 30th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
This is excellent clarification! Thanks Angiepie!
My husband has an old friend whose nick name is Panty Ho! (don’t ask)
We always used the term “nylons” for any kind of sheer pantyhose. And “knee-highs” were nylons that stopped at the knee.
The word “tights” conjures up thoughts of little girls in dresses. So I always feel funny using the word “tights” when referring to my opaques. (which is why I tend to call them “opaques”.)
December 30th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Good question, Ana (sort of suspected that Brendan would say “laddering” :-)).
Fishnets are sheer and see-through so I’d call them hose, which is a type of hosiery. Fishnets that are backed with nylon fall into the pukka pantyhose category and would therefore be called hose too. Fishnets are too sheer to be tights. Does that make sense?
No hate mail yet, Sal and hope that your reader got sorted!
*chuckle* Kristers. Have a super New Year too.
Nicole, I trend to say “opaques” as well and those are a good example of tights. Crazy how the description of something can become it’s name.
December 31st, 2008 at 3:31 am
I think pantyhose are the sexiest thing on the planet. I wish women would wear them everyday. it’s nice to hear women talking about them.