Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to put our pants on one leg at a time

to put our pants on one leg at a time

1 9.3
To be ordinary like other people
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : ponerse los pantalones de una pierna a la vez
  • Despite his success, he reminds everyone that he puts his pants on one leg at a time like the rest of us.

Examples

  • We all put our pants on one leg at a time!

  • Don't forget that we all put our pants on one leg at a time.

  • Let's not be intimidated; they put their pants on one leg at a time just like we do.

  • She told her fans that even celebrities put their pants on one leg at a time.

  • But they put our pants on one leg at a time, just like you and me.

  • Sure, we all put our pants on one leg at a time, but in the Northwest we rarely take them off.

  • And we may put our pants on one leg at a time, but they're nice pants, with belts to match our shoes!

Synonyms

one leg at a time
vsto put our pants on one leg at a time
  • Informal
8.0

To show that famous people are ordinary like everyone else

uses a longer informal image to stress that nobody is above others

Antonyms

extraordinary
  • Formal
859 3.8

Very unusual or much greater than usual

to act superior
1 6.7

Behave as if you are better than other people

Surface Forms

put our pants on one leg at a time infinitive

Morphology

put + our + pant + on + one + leg + at + a + time

The phrase literally describes the ordinary action of putting on pants one leg at a time, so the constituent meanings are transparent at the surface level; however, the intended sense — that someone is ordinary or not above others — is a conventionalized metaphor and pragmatic inference rather than a direct compositional reading. A B1 learner who knows the words might grasp the basic image but would likely need exposure to the idiomatic use to fully understand the intended social meaning.

Etymology

Put our pants on one leg at a time comes from a simple picture: everyone puts on their pants by putting one leg in and then the other, so no one is different. So it means 'to be ordinary' or 'not above others'.