"Bored Pants"

So, a couple of weeks ago, we were in Michigan for Spring Break. We did a lot of swimming. On the way to the pool, I was carrying the swim gear (while Rob carried Sam, thanks, babe for saving my back for a week), and I asked Rob why his swim trunks don't have a "liner". You know, like swim trunks usually do??

Apparently they don't in California, at least not among the surfing population. They wear board shorts...no liner. And my question was comical to him. Only the tourists wear trunks with liners. It's how they identify them. How would I learn this kind of thing? I don't know.

Anyway, I was looking through Ben's summer clothes now that the weather is nice, and guess what I found... board shorts! From Grant E. (who, incidentally, lives in CA) Thanks, Grant. I thought they were just regular, "wear to school" shorts because, you know, no liner. I'm learning.

So, Ben was excited to have "board" shorts like Rob. And today we went swimming at the community center. He announced to his friend Jack M. who was also swimming that he was wearing his "BOARD PANTS", which made me smile. I thought he meant BORED. I said, "Ben, is that because you wear them when you're BORED? Why are they called that?". He said, "No, you wear them when you're doing something with BOARDS." (construction work?). I said, "I think you wear them when you're ON a BOARD, like a surf BOARD." He smiled, said "Oh.", and kept swimming.

We are both learning. :-)

So, somebody back me up here, my mid-west dwelling friends and family... Am I the only one who didn't know about lining-free swim attire??