Talk:underwear

I use this word the way it is defined here, but I hear many people use it to mean only underpants/panties; i.e., to exclude brassieres and undershirts.

Also, what about slips: that aren't necessarily worn next to the skin, but they are something one WEARS UNDER 'regular' clothes.76.126.195.34 18:20, 15 August 2013 (UTC)

Second definition

I think the second definition should be marked as 'colloquial' as underwear is a general term officially and includes items such as undershirts and the like. BlackAdvisor (talk) 19:16, 30 May 2017 (UTC)

pronunciation

i think the /ˈʌndɚwɚ/ pronunciation is questionable. think of it in a nonrhotic accent .. "undawa" ... even in rapid speech that wouldnt pass. I think the /e/ is always there, even colloquially, but in rapid speech it may lose its secondary stress and be pronounced so rapidly that it might be missed. Lollipop (talk) 20:42, 17 September 2023 (UTC)

put another way, it may be at the phonetic level a rhoticized /e/, which in rapid speech would sound like [ɚ], but phonemically it's still /er/. Lollipop (talk) 20:54, 17 September 2023 (UTC)