A Conversation for Nappies

Why diapers and not nappies?

Post 1

Dilapidated

Is it just the English who call them nappies (although my mother-in-law refers to them by the original term "napkins")? I seem to rcall that diapers are named for their inventor, whose descendants on the male side have presumably never forgiven him, particularly duringtheir school careers.


Why diapers and not nappies?

Post 2

TomAndSandyFarley

Diaper is a term derived from the weaving pattern in a type of cloth commonly used as nappies in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Gause and birdseye became more common as they became more affordable, available, durable, and absorbant. In both the UK [nappy] and US [diaper] the terms as nouns shifted in meaning to be defined by how the material was used, not what it was made of -- which led to both terms being used as verbs as well.


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