Figure 1.--Here we see two German children in the 1920s, presumably doing their First Communion. We woukd say that the boy is wearing short pants rather than kneepnts. There are two reasons for that. First the pants are cut abive the knee. Second there are no ornamental buttons at the leg hem. /i>

American boys by the 1930s are commonly wearing knickers and using that term. Montgomery Ward in 1922 was using "rompers" for one-piece suits with bloomer or blounced short pants. Stuart's in 1915 used the term bloomer pants todescribe tunic suits worn with above the knee bloomer knickers. We see kneepants rapidly dissapear after the early 1920s. It is difficult in many cases to destinguish between kneepants and short pants. The major difference we use are the ornamental buttons at the knee hem and the length. Pants cut at or below the knee are kneepants and those cut above the knee are short pants. Admittedly there is a gap there in which the pants could be be either. We also note the rerm "short pants" and "shorts" being used.