Unmentionables

[darkerhorse]

Would native Italians in Rome use different words for men's and women's underwear, or is there a generic term for underwear which could mean for either gender?

For example, in English, you could say boxers or briefs for men, and panties (and bra) for women, while underwear could many any of the above. Of course there's also undershirt and underpants in English.

The reason I ask is that, in 1992, I made a nun at a rooming house near the Vatican blush when I answered her question about what kind of items I needed laundered. I don't speak Italian so I said what I thought was the word for underwear, something like "mudans", as I recall - and she got very embarrassed. I wondered if I had actually said I wanted to wash my panties!

I ended up taking my laundry to a dry cleaners. She wrote down directions. I thought it read "Angelo's" and I couldn't find it. Then I realized it read "angolo", meaning it was down the corner. So, you can see I'm at a loss with the language. I've improved a little over the years.

[darkerhorse]

Uppity might be a better word for her. I was the one being pretentious.