Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2017 May 14

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May 14

Playsuit vs. Romper

Hi,

I'm trying to improve interwikis regarding some articles of clothing and I don't understand the difference between a playsuit and a romper suit as adult garments. Could someone explain it to me? On Commons playsuits are a subcategory of rompers but I don't get what kind of rompers are not playsuits...? --Rinaku (t · c) 14:54, 14 May 2017 (UTC)

I'm not sure there's much difference between them; they both seem to be subcategories of the jumpsuit or the onesie. --Jayron32 14:01, 15 May 2017 (UTC)

Thanks. --Rinaku (t · c) 18:07, 15 May 2017 (UTC) @Jayron32

The second one seems to be more loose-fitting (otherwise maybe known as "romper room"). ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 15:41, 15 May 2017 (UTC)

For anyone that missed the joke... --Jayron32 16:38, 15 May 2017 (UTC)

Indeed I wouldn't have gotten that... So, was this only a joke or also a serious comment? Keeping in mind that I'm asking about adult clothing. --Rinaku (t · c) 18:07, 15 May 2017 (UTC) @Baseball Bugs

To me, a romper means a baby garment while a playsuit is for something worn by someone a bit more mobile. The terms are interchangeable, but I would think of a romper as being baby or toddler clothing, and a playsuit as reflecting something a little more mature. Although I guess they look like abbreviated onesies/jumpsuits, that's not a comparison I had actually made before, as I would think of them as having longer legs. Very much a grey area, I guess, because, like so many fashion industry terms, the applications shift around a lot. Mabalu (talk) 16:46, 15 May 2017 (UTC)

I was asking about rompers and playsuits as worn by adults. I understand that for kids a playsuit means something else. --Rinaku (t · c) 18:07, 15 May 2017 (UTC) @Mabalu

I was referring to rompers/playsuits generally too. I find it weird that grown women refer to themselves as wearing rompers, but when they say playsuits I know what they mean. Mabalu (talk) 19:58, 15 May 2017 (UTC)

Someone on Quora [1] had the opposite view, play suits are what children wear, adults wear rompers. I think this illustrates what was said above namely that there is no real clear distinction between these two terms and they can be used interchangably depending on the person or marketing department or whatever. There is probably some degree of WP:Engvar too. I think the above two articles should be merged (and I'd note AFAICT a lot of what they are referring to in the time frames sounds like the same thing), although this isn't the place for that discussion.

My thoughts exactly :) I opened a merger proposal. --Rinaku (t · c) 19:56, 16 May 2017 (UTC)