Why use the term 'onesie' for full body suits/pajamas?

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ReubenofNight

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This is a question that really bothers me and confuses me. All my life full body pajamas has always been referred to as footed-sleepers or footie pajamas but a lot of people here and the general public call them Onesies.

Why do you call them Onesies? Whenever I see someone call them Onesies I get confused because I think of Onesies as the shirts with button snaps to hold up diapers for babies (or us).
 
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I recently bought some Hello Kitty footed pajamas from JCP that were labled as onesie pajamas. They fit tight in the crotch like onesies should, and do not have the crotch at knee level like a lot of footed pajamas do. To call all footed pajamas onesies is doing the real onesies (pajamas or not) an injustice IMHO.
 
It is annoying but the general public have taken it and ran with it.
 
blondiewoof said:
I recently bought some Hello Kitty footed pajamas from JCP that were labled as onesie pajamas. They fit tight in the crotch like onesies should, and do not have the crotch at knee level like a lot of footed pajamas do. To call all footed pajamas onesies is doing the real onesies (pajamas or not) an injustice IMHO.

i personally would have called this a footed onesie or a footed sleeper. I have a "onesie" but it really a purple sleeper with a low crotch. i hate that part of it but it keeps me warm at night so im not fussed. Also does anyone wear sleepers/ all in one pj's all year cause i used to at my old house but it was seriously cold there apart from maybe august.

LittleMattyMoo said:
It is annoying but the general public have taken it and ran with it.

your not wrong they have taken it too far and just ruined the actual purpose of a onesie of holding diapers in place but in the general publics eye they have to modify it ALOT to make it trendy like baggy clothes at one point used to be very popular. just an example. But if they did this with anything else that we can relate to i will probably be outraged. :/
 
Onesie is a Gerber product name that became largely synonymous with infant bodysuits in the US. It didn't have quite the hold elsewhere, so we see other uses for the name "onesie". The lack of clarity is irritating but I don't see it changing anytime soon. We just have to be sure what we're talking about when the subject arises.
 
I think most people know the difference between a onesie and a bodysuit whatever, but people LIKE to call things Onesies because it's "close enough" and also "cuter that way".

That's how I've always viewed it anyway.
 
Judging off previous post and other sources of research. Onesies appear to the name of a style of pajamas that vary based off the weather/season.

It's kind of like a brand name.
 
Fore me & my little, my pajamas are my sleeper, and all my snap shirts are onesies, or bodysuits. Sleepers are the only thing I can call them, it just fits with my little one... I am so confused! lol why does the world make these things so difficult! :think::chin:
 
Where I come from we call them Jumpers. But, I call them Onesies because I talk to a lot of Europeans who think the word jumper means sweater.
 
I call my footie PJs my "onesie" because it's a one-piece suit, of course!
 
It seems to be a geography thing. My Brit friend calls footed PJs "onsies," because in the UK, "footie," is soccer. So footie PJs, to his mind means pajamas with a soccer theme.
 
I think Trevor, Marka and others have hit the nail on the head. It all goes back to baby attire, the onsie being an article of baby clothing that is one piece, and has some sort of access for diaper changing. Geez.....no wonder we love them!
 
LightYoshi said:
This is a question that really bothers me and confuses me. All my life full body pajamas has always been referred to as footed-sleepers or footie pajamas but a lot of people here and the general public call them Onesies.

Why do you call them Onesies? Whenever I see someone call them Onesies I get confused because I think of Onesies as the shirts with button snaps to hold up diapers for babies (or us).

Yeah, I can't stand when people do that, a onesie is a more "Exotic" form of sleepware, in the Midwest atlest.
 
The trend in the UK for adults and children to wear one-piece pjs (i.e. "foot pyjamas") is very recent. In fact, when I first joined the forum I would have called foot pyjamas a "baby-grow", as that was the British word for such things. (Unlike in the USA, it was not typical for children to wear these, just infants). "Onesie", meaning the T-shirt thing that extends under the nappy, was a word I learnt on the forum. Here they're called "bodysuits."

I have no idea why foot pyjamas became fashionable here, although of course I'm grateful that they did. I also don't know why Onesie was the chosen name! I find it interesting that the term is also used across the pond, I always figured it was a weird European thing.
 
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I think it has to do with culture. In Europe, they call diapers nappies. They call a pacifier a dummy. I think the term onesie is a European term when it comes to footed jammies.
 
Charlie said:
Then trend in the UK for adults and children to wear one-piece pjs (i.e. "foot pyjamas") is very recent. In fact, when I first joined the forum I would have called foot pyjamas a "baby-grow", as that was the British word for such things. (Unlike in the USA, it was not typical for children to wear these, just infants). "Onesie", meaning the T-shirt thing that extends under the nappy, was a word I learnt on the forum. Here they're called "bodysuits."

Yeah -- I would have used "baby-grow" too! Footies, onesies, overalls, shortalls, etc. were all terms I discovered here.
 
tiny said:
Yeah -- I would have used "baby-grow" too!

thirding it.
all-in-one, fleecy pyjamas were available for girls, upto age 13-ish (i used to have one, in pink :blushie: ), but they were usually footless; and i can't remember what they were marketed as.
 
I have not had the opportunity as an adult, but this is how I always considered it:

Pajamas that are one piece from head to toe are simply pajamas, those with feet are "footed pajamas". Usually made of a thick material to keep you warm.

A onesie is a single piece , usually of the same thin material as an undershirt, that covers from your torso to under your crotch. Basically an undershirt made to hold up a diaper.

I will admit, I pray for the day to be free to experience that feeling again.
 
I wish there was an easy way to setup something like some Wikipedia sites have where the words that have alternate meanings are green, and when hovered over popup a definition so you know wich one the writer is referring to. Tho I'm not sure how the user interface for such a feature would be implemented.
 
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