Tara wears the pants in her household

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
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Tara wears the pants in her household. (*) is the boss (*) washes the clothes (*) doesn't like dresses

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://english.best/questions/24011,tara-uwears-the-pantsu-in-her-household/
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What’s interesting about the idiom ‘to wear the pants’ is that has a British version which is ‘to wear the trousers’. Both seem to have the exact same meaning though.

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Yes, very interesting observation @Torsten. :wink:

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I had to get used to using ‘trousers’ in the UK instead of ‘pants’ when I lived there! Could be completely misunderstood if you got it muddled up! :rofl:

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I learned the idiom back in 1997 thanks to a band by the name of Depeche Mode. Here is the part the idiom occurs in:

I’m taking a ride
With my best friend
I hope he never lets me down again

Promises me I’m as safe as houses
As long as I remember who’s wearing the trousers

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Interestingly enough, “as safe as houses” seems to be an idiom too :wink:. Apparently Depeche Mode love to speak in idioms :wink:.

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Very interesting indeed! :wink: @Torsten @Natalia_Polteva

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I got the meaning ‘wearing the trousers’ immediately when I heard the song for the first time because we have exactly the same idiom in German ‘die Hosen anhaben’ but ‘as safe as houses’ took longer to sink in because in the late 80s we neither had access to the internet nor were we officially allowed to listen to Depeche Mode.

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