On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 Talpianna at aol.com wrote: >In a message dated 11/17/2003 12:46:49 AM US Mountain Standard Time, >davids at kithrup.com writes: >>*Also, "braces" (British) == "suspenders" (American) >>We won't get into the matter of pants. > >Is it wise, Grasshopper, to assume everyone knows what spats are? Oh, I assume nothing. But "spats" is a unique term, referring to only one sort of thing that is worn [1], and the truly curious could, for example, easily look it up, whereas Americans seeing the term "braces" could easily be confused, and wonder what, exactly, orthodontic aids have to do with the other items of fashion, and perhaps might even mistakenly think that the author used the wrong term. [1] As compared to the plural of an argument, or misspelling the past participle of "spit", or whatever.