Today’s column is about pants. Yep, it is all about great big Nana knickers and it is written by Caitlin Moran. Here is an extract:
On December 3, an attempt by a 23-year-old man, John Marsey, to fry a slice of bread went alarmingly wrong. Within minutes, his kitchen was ablaze. Thankfully, however, Marsey and his cousin, Darren, were able to conjure up a makeshift fireblanket. They grabbed a pair of John’s mother’s size 18 to 20 M&S “big pants” from the washing basket and threw them on the raging pan .
“If they’d been my daughter Sarah’s skimpy knickers, they wouldn’t have done any good,” Mrs Marsey said, posing with her huge pants for a local news story. And, in that instant, she encapsulated the implacable moral, spiritual, political and, most importantly, practical superiority of big pants.
People, I’m going to lay this one right on the line, right here, right now: I’m pro big pants. Indeed, pace Mrs Marsey, I’m currently wearing a pair that could have put out the Great Fire of London at any point during the first 48 hours or so.
Read the rest at Timesonline.
scholarship@cc 
Here’s what I think:
The central ideas in this column; Nana knickers are useful as knickers but also as a fire blanket. Owning some of these are a very good idea.
Two quotes; “They grabbed a pair of John’s mother’s size 18 to 20 M&S “big pants” from the washing basket and threw them on the raging pan” and “If they’d been my daughter Sarah’s skimpy knickers, they wouldn’t have done any good” – these quotes are proof to the reader that these big knickers are a lot better than those stupid skimpy knickers that people call fashion. Not only because they are large so will fit you for a lot longer while in the growing years, but they also have other special uses; e.g. they are useful as fire blankets…
Hooray for Nana knickers! Thanks Darren! 🙂
1)
a) i think that the central idea of this column is to show us that the worthlessness of ‘sexy pants.’ Whereas ‘big pants’ can even put out a flaming fire, while also been the comfortable option.
b) “And if I’m going to wear pants, I’m going to wear something that actually contains my entire botty-bot – instead of just hanging around the middle area, scantily, supposedly sexily, like a gift ribbon on a slightly battered parcel.”
“… if we can’t sit down, without wincing.”
showing they may seem, and look sexy and appealing but what does that really mean if you can not feel comfortable in your underwear instead of having the “…constant struggle.”. Its not about the looks its how they feel and thats what she is trying to get across to the readers.
2)
humour – she uses the effect of humour to grab the readers interest and get involved.
hyperbole – she uses hyperbole (exaggerating) to strengthen the facts for her article and get the readers to tune in and then really see what is happening.
rhetorical question – she uses this to get the readers involved and think about the answer for themselves.
repetition – to get her point across to the readers-drill it in to them.
“And if I’m going to wear pants, I’m going to wear something that actually contains my entire botty-bot – instead of just hanging around the middle area, scantily, supposedly sexily, like a gift ribbon on a slightly battered parcel.”
Thanks Soraya. Clear discussion of the ideas and the language. Good to see lots of textual support. 🙂