Please bear with me as I try to control myself today. You know how excited I get over special days and holidays. You also know that at least in America, every day is “Something Day.” We have the big ones like Christmas Day, the socially aware days like Blood Donor Day (June 14), the fun ones like Ice Cream for Breakfast Day (first Saturday in February) and the fun ones with a little more activity to work off those celebratory calories like Dancing Day (April 29). Today may seem a day more aimed to a specific special interest than most but it’s a day most of us can well relate to. It is National Underwear Day. Yes, that is a thing. At least in the US. Citizens of other countries may want to consult … I’m sorry, I have no idea who you would consult to determine when your country celebrates Underwear Day. Chances are it doesn’t. Feel free to join us!
Sometime at the start of the century a some marketing people at the e-tailer Freshpair thought it would be cool to celebrate unmentionables. This was genius on their part since Freshpair e-tails nothing but unmentionables. What better thing for them to mention. So after years, months, weeks, or perhaps hours of planning, National Underwear Day was introduced to the nation on August 5, 2003. Ten years later they discovered they set their sights too low and instead should have introduced World Underwear Day to the World.
It was at the 2013 celebration they invited everyone to meet at Times Square in New York City to break the world record for the largest size gathering of people in underwear. Just underwear. I suppose everywhere people gather they are in their underwear but this gathering was for people just in underwear. Or maybe underwear over outerwear. I don’t know, I didn’t get there for that gathering. Who did get there were 800+ people all in their underthings. If you are wondering, that did not break the record which was set on September 24, 2011 when 2,270 participants gathered at the Utah Undie Run in Salt Lake City, Utah wearing only underwear. That’s a lot of skivvies.
Although people have been wearing layers of clothes since the ancient Romans, underwear that we would recognize came around in the 1800s when both men and women started wearing undergarments that resembled pants. Prior to then, although men had been wearing something resembling shorts since the Middle Ages, women wore simple shifts under their dresses until long pant like underwear was introduced at the beginning of the 19th century. Have you ever wondered why we refer to them as a pair of pants or or why panties is plural? (are plural?) The first examples were actually two separate legs that were pulled on separately then tied together at the waist.
Back to the celebration…what will you do to mark National Underwear Day? Whatever it is, wear that wear with pride and try to keep it clean. We’ve progressed as a society with unmentionables so mentionable that they appear in the Guineas Book of Records. No word on if another attempt will be made to break that record but rest assured, wherever you are, most of those around you would qualify.
Not My Underwear
The Real Reality Show Blog 
I don’t know where you come up with this information, but your take on humor is priceless. Don’t ever change–but do change your underwear!
Yes ma’am. 😀
Question from the floor! Why is it that when you don’t wear any underwear it’s called “going commando?” cheers
Thank you for asking. I thought this no might come up. Here’s one of the few instances (ahem) when the Internet isn’t always right. A quick search could lead one to believe a bunch of frat boys at the University of North Carolina coined the phrase but gives no real explanation for it. Because they didn’t originate the phrase but merely were to first to take credit for it! Why would they want to? Who knows what a bunch of drunken college kids are thinking. And I’ve been there. Probably. Anyway, the origin is hundreds of years earlier. At least 30. That was when it became common lingo in the US Army for soldiers to wear only their fatigues in combat to prevent chafing and (pardon my frankness) crotch rot. It was so called because that’ was how the commandos (paratroopers, air assault, etc) went. That was the origin of the phrase but not the practice. That goes back yet another 50 years, at least, to the days of WWI when the Scottish regiments went unencumbered by undergarments with their kilts for that familiar reason of keeping things comfortable I’m the nether regions. By the time WWII rolled around kilts were no longer worn in battle but the practice remained as did the phrase “going regimental.” The US troops, who were likewise dressed under it all, borrowed “going regimental” until some soldier came up with “going commando.” During my days in the US Army, relatively contemporary to when those UNC guys were claiming the phrase was theirs, we were finding fewer instances to “go commando” but not to lessen the chances of hear rashes and other uncomfortable occurrences down there and instead were going boxer. Even the women.
I wonder now, does this count as a second post for this week?
Definitely a second post and, more importantly, I’m going to go to bed smarter than when I woke up. A good practice.