Poll!

[telophase]

Because I was thinking about a miscommunication with a person who requested art for me about a decade ago...

Poll #21313

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 42

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Someone is wearing a hairstyle in which the hair is gathered into one or more bunches using an elastic or a rubber band, and left loose. This is called a...

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pigtail
0 (0.0%)

ponytail
19 (45.2%)

either one, interchangeably
2 (4.8%)

either one, depending on another variable (gender? hair texture? something else?)
17 (40.5%)

something else, to be explained in the comments
4 (9.5%)

Someone is wearing a hairstyle in which the hair is gathered into one or more bunches using an elastic or a rubber band, and braided. This is called a...

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pigtail
10 (24.4%)

ponytail
1 (2.4%)

either one, interchangeably
1 (2.4%)

either one, depending on another variable (gender? hair texture? something else?)
4 (9.8%)

something else, to be explained in the comments
25 (61.0%)

I have a completely unrelated thought and would like to make it known

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So the person in question asked for two pigtails on the character. I obliged with two braids. We had a few go-rounds, with him insisting on pigtails and me attempting to draw the braids to actually look more like braids, until he finally showed me a picture of what he wanted, which were what I called ponytails. Because in my dialect, pigtails are braids, because pigs' tails are curly, and ponytails are loose, because ponies' tails are long and loose.

Brought to mind because I saw an article online today that talked about "cute pigtails" that showed no braids whatsoever. And instead of yelling in the comments because SOMEBODY ON THE INTERNET IS WRONG I decided to come over here and see if it's a regional thing, or what.

I mean, I should have added a question about region to the poll, but oh well.

Comments

[kate_nepveu]

I don't have a name for the second! Braided ponytails, maybe?

[telophase]

I don't actually use "pigtails" in conversation. I'd call that "braids". :) Which I think I got from Laura Ingalls Wilder's books--Laura always wore her hair in braids.

[kore]

Hunh, now that I'm thinking about it, I might have seen those two long braids down the back referred to as "pigtails." I'm not sure though.

[jenett]

It's a numbers thing for me - single bunch is a ponytail, two (or I suppose more) is pigtails, and if it's braided it's braids or double braids or something like that.

(Grew up in Massachusetts, some of my terminology is likely heavily influenced by British school stories.)

[delight]

This is the same for me essentially; one is a ponytail, 2+ is pigtails ... and if it's braided it's just a braid if there's only one. Multiples would be braids or braided pigtails.

[alexseanchai]

This

[telophase]

This does seem to be the more common parlance.

[weirdquark]

Same.

[genarti]

To me, a ponytail is all the hair in one tail. (Generally unbraided, but if you said a braided ponytail I'd know what you meant. "A braid" to me doesn't imply or rule out the hair elastic part, but I would default to assuming none unless specified.) Pigtails are two, generally on the sides of the head, and can be braided or not.

If there are more than two, it depends on the details.

[telophase]

In general, I don't use "pigtail." I'd call it "ponytail/ponytails" or "braid/braids."

[genarti]

I'm finding this all super interesting, because it never occurred to me that this was something with regional variation (though also, of course it is) -- and because my initial thought was "oh, it's obviously one ponytail, two pigtails, boom, done," but I keep thinking of more qualifiers and edge cases! Language is cool!

[telophase]

Language is cool AND frustrating! With clients, I keep running into cases where we don't mean the same thing by a word or phrase and we both end up frustrated with each other because it's obvious what each of us means.

I had one where it turned out that I considered a "determined expression" to be one with the brow slightly furrowed and the mouth set in a hard line, while what they meant by "determined expression" I would call "unsmiling but neutral."

I need to remember to read all client briefs with this in mind and ask for clarification before wasting hours repainting...

[conuly]

Tangent on determined expression: Do you frown with your mouth or your forehead?

[telophase]

Well, if someone asked me for a frowning expression on someone, while I tend to use "frown" for mouth shape, I'd draw their mouth turned down at the corners, but also furrow the brow because a downturned mouth with neutral or raised eyebrows tends to convey a sort of astonishment, questioning or skeptical expression.

[watersword]

Two or more ponytails are pigtails; the adjective "braided" is added to either noun as-needed (e.g, "braided ponytail," "braided pigtails").

[trobadora]

Same as the above comments: pigtails are always plural, ponytail if there's just one, and if it's braided it's a braid/braids.

[loligo]

Yep, me too. In historical literature like Little House or Anne of Green Gables, I might picture "pigtails" as braids, but in contemporary North America, "pigtails" says two matching pony tails to me, especially worn over the ears (picture Cindy Brady).

[the_rck]

One bunch is a ponytail. Two bunches is pigtails. More than two is outside of my vocabulary. I've seen people wearing them, but I don't know anyone who does. I'd probably say something like, 'a lot of ponytails,' to describe that style. I wouldn't use pigtails because those are very specifically two, one on either side of the head, symmetrically placed.

Braided hair with one bunch is a braid. Two might be braids or plaits, depending on one's family background. I would refer to more than two, collectively, as 'braids,' but people who wear them routinely might use different terms.

[solarbird]

Second: ponytails, or also "braids."

They're pigtails only if they're short enough that they go up, not down, and there are usually a bunch of them.

[rachelmanija]

If there's two or more, they're pigtails. The most common pigtails, which I see almost exclusively on little girls, are two (one on each side of the head, for girls with straight hair) and four (one on each quadrant of the back of the head, for African -American girls with natural hair.)

If it's one bunch at the back, it's a ponytail.

If it's braided rather than loose, it is neither a ponytail nor a pigtail, but a braid.

[kore]

I wouldn't think of pigtails as braided, but I don't really have a word for "braided bunches of hair" other than "braids," either. Plaits? I typically visualize pigtails as the two bunches of hair being on either side of the head.

[telophase]

"Plaits" seems old-fashioned or British to me--I wouldn't expect the average person I interact with daily to understand that. But people keep surprising me--I asked Toby about this at lunch, and he said he'd call two braid "plaits" although we both had a discussion on how we'd say it, because it turns out we both encounter that word mostly in written materials instead of spoken word.

[havocthecat]

If it's one bunch, it's a ponytail. It's big, like a pony? I don't know.

If it's more than one bunch, it's pigtails. It's smaller?

If it's braided, they're just called braids.

Maybe it's regional? No clue.

[conuly]

Pigtail/ponytail splits among how many there are, not whether or not it's braided. One is a ponytail, especially if loose. A single braid is a "braided ponytail" or a "braid". Two are pigtails. More than two, if braided, are "braids" or possibly "cornrows", but that's a specific style. I would never refer to hair pulled back in a scrunchie as being in "bunches", even as a description.

[telophase]

I couldn't come up with anything better to use than "bunches" at the time. :) It seems alien to me, too; I'd normally use "tail" to describe it, but I didn't want to prime anyone with that word.

[conuly]

:)

I mentioned it because I'm pretty sure "bunches" is a normal BrE word for (unbraided?) pigtails.

[white_hart]

Yes, two ponytails would normally be called bunches here. Ponytails are always loose, pigtails are plaited and you could have one or two (or more, but most people don’t do more than two).

[telophase]

My irresponsible childhood reading Britkidlit must be responsible for my terminology!

(I come by it sort of naturally: I spent 2 years in Tanzania as a kid and have an Anglophile mother.)

[vom_marlowe]

It's a ponytail if it's in a single bunch, in the back. It's pigtails if it's two bunches, one on either side of the head.

If it's braided, it's called a braid. You're not allowed to call it either a ponytail or a pigtail if there's braids involved, heh.

[bonibaru]

^^^that's what I always thought

[golden_bastet]

This!

And hi! Really long time no see. :D

[bonibaru]

aren't braids just called .... braids?

[weirdquark]

I can see calling it a braided ponytail/pigtails if you gather the hair with an elastic, braid it, and then putting an elastic on the end to distinguish it from braiding it and only having an elastic at the bottom, but I'd probably just call it braids myself.

[used_songs]

If it's one bunch of hair it's a ponytail. If it's 2 it's dog ears. If it's braided, it's a braid (regardless of quantity) but pigtail also works.

[golden_bastet]

I always knew it as:

• One bunch (default: down the back): ponytail
• More than one bunch (usually on the sides of the head): Pigtails
  
  I didn't know that this wasn't standard! Oh, well.
  
  ETA: aaaaand I skipped right over the braid part. Well, if it's braided, it's a braid. So, carry on then.

[viridian5]

One is a ponytail, two is pigtails, braided is a braid or braids. At least in New York and Pennsylvania.

[indywind]

Current use in my area:
Ponytail: 1 bunch of all the hair secured by a fastener at the base only

Pigtail: hair bunch(es) secured by fastener at the base that are also at least one but more usually 2 of (a) multiple bunches < ~5, (b) braided/plaited, (c) curled, (d)small and perky/stubby

Historical: Pigtail: one (or rarely more) gathering of hair secured by fastener at the base and/or braiding; if not braided, usually curled and/or not very long. Roughly synonymous with "queue," 15-1800s ish. "Ponytail" not used before ehhh, perhaps 1900ish?

[dhampyresa]

I have never encountered the term pigtail before! To me a ponytail is all the hair together, what I would call in French a "queue de cheval" (horse tail). Multiple bunch-of-hair-held-by-elastic would be a "couette", which I have no idea what the English word for is. /french 0.02€