We've had many English/American discussions in Pros, and somebody from the north of England popped up and said pants for trousers was a local usage, confounding most of us.

It's a word I avoid like the plague these days since it gives me a sort of cross-eyed vision of a simultaneous under and outer garment.

I seem to recall some of Ruth Rendell's/Barbara Vine's books referring to petrol, others to gas, so I suppose some were less molested than others.