Panty line


A visible panty line is the situation when the outline of a person's underpants is visible through the outer clothing. The underwear may be seen as a ridge or depression in the clothes, or as a result of the clothing material being sufficiently clingy or transparent.

Origin

The origin of the term is probably traced to barracks humor, the term VPL for 'visible panty line' as a mockery of overused bureaucratic initialisms, coined in an analogy with water line. The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English claims that the phrase was popularized by Woody Allen's 1977 comedy film Annie Hall.