Going Commando?

[___Rhianna___]

Does anyone know how this phrase came to mean that you're not wearing underwear? I know there was a scene on "Friends" several years ago where Joey has put on all of Chandler's clothes and says he's "commando." But I really hadn't heard the phrase until then. Now I hear it a lot. My BIL says it had its origins with a unit of real-life commandos (during WWII maybe?) who got dysentery during a mission, eventually gave up on their underwear, and finally cut flaps in the back of their pants. Anyone have a clue about this?

[Gumbeaux]

"Going Commando" (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/bayoutitan/Second%20Album/Commando.jpg) from Wikipedia.


http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/bayoutitan/Second%20Album/Commando.jpg

[EllenL]

I wish I had known this expression when I was younger. True Confessions time: every year my mom would take me to the Ringling Brothers circus at Madison Square Garden, courtesy of an uncle who would send tickets every year for my birthday (I hated the circus for a number of reasons, but that will be a different thread. But I knew it was abnormal for a kid not to like the circus, so I didn't say anything and went every year. Using the rest room when I was eight, Mom told me to not sit on the toilet (fear of germs) and just do a sort of standing squat. I attempted this but wasn't coordinated enough and my underpants got wet. Mom just threw them away in the garbage and told me it would be fine not to wear them. But this was the early sixties and I was wearing a dress! I was mortified! If only I had I known that it would become cool and trendy later on. The trauma of it all!

Feeling better for having shared a childhood trauma...

[TKay]

"Friends" was the first place I heard it. Interesting that it may have come from an earlier time.

[beacooker]

Sorry, but I just have to give a big wave HELLO! to 2 of my good bb friends, who I *know* will be reading this thread. :D