Undergarments, also called "underwear", "lingerie" (undergarments for women), or sometimes "intimate clothing" and "pants" in British English are clothes worn next to the skin, usually under other clothes.

Some clothing is specifically underwear, while some is also used as swimsuit (if made of suitable material), and both T-shirts and some shorts are suitable as underwear as well as outer clothing. Suitability as outer clothing is, apart from outdoor or indoor climate, largely a social and sometimes even a legal matter. One of the criteria for shorts not to be suitable as outer clothing may be that it has a fly that avoids exposure of the genitals just by an overlap of cloth, without buttons, etc.

In addition to keeping outer garments from soiling, undergarments are worn for a variety of reasons: warmth, comfort and hygiene being the most common. Undergarments are often used for modesty or erotic display; sometimes both of these motivations are simultaneously present.

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NPR Topics: Arts & Entertainment

'Twilight': For Teens, A Swooningly Risky Romance
Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:01:00 -0500
Morning Edition's movie critic is not, and never has been, a 13-year-old girl. But Catherine Hardwicke's dead-on screen take on Stephenie Meyer's vampire books makes him wish he could be — if only to get the full effect.
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Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:00:00 -0500
An animal actor, convinced his TV-show superpowers are real, scrambles to find his way from New York back to Hollywood. Kids will have a fine time, says critic Mark Jenkins, but adults might develop an allergy.
'Were The World Mine': 'Tis Definitely Fairy Time
Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:00:00 -0500
How's a much-bullied gay teen to get his revenge? Well, if he's starring in a musicalized A Midsummer Night's Dream, and he stumbles upon a working formula for Puck's love potion ...

NYT > Arts

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Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:21:18 -0000
“Chinese Democracy” is the Titanic ship of rock albums: It’s outsize, lavish, obsessive, technologically advanced and, all too clearly, the end of an era.
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Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:23:39 -0000
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Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:04:41 -0000
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Arts & Culture

Sasha Frere-Jones: Political beats.
Sasha Frere-Jones Mon, 17 Nov 2008 05:00:00 -0000
After Barack Obama conceded defeat at the New Hampshire primary last January, the Black Eyed Peas’ Will.i.am selected quotes from his concession speech and set them to music--sort of. The video for Will.i.am’s “Yes We Can” features a clutch of celebrities singing (or speaking), over Obama and a few . . .
Sasha Frere-Jones: Pink's progress.
Sasha Frere-Jones Mon, 17 Nov 2008 05:00:00 -0000
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Peter Schjeldahl: The New Orleans Biennial beckons.
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Christian Science Monitor | Arts & Entertainment

Jazz in the spotlight
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Classic puzzlers in a crisp new book, Jack Bauer is back in a '24' movie, Stephen Colbert croons his way into Christmas, and more.

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