Hammer Pants

By Deane Barker • •

MC Hammer in an undated photo

This is a colloquial name for the shiny, baggy pants made popular by MC Hammer in the early 1990s, typified by his U Can’t Touch This music video.

I searched for “hammer pants” on Amazon, and several results were labeled “Harem Pants.” The chief characteristic was both bagginess, and a crotch that extended down to the knees. Those specifically labeled “Hammer Pants” were usually also labeled as a costume accessory.

Why I Looked It Up

It was a category in the NY Times game Connections. Under the heading “Kinds of Pants,” the answers were:

When I was trying to solve the puzzle, I knew the other three were pants. I asked my wife, “Are ‘hammer pants’ a thing?” She responding that she had never heard of them.

I got that category last, and only because they were the only four tiles left.

This is item #384 in a sequence of 949 items.

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