Yeah, pants more usually refers to men's underwear.

You're right of course that the quote dates back through the ages, with a whole lot of variations. When I wrote the TechCrunch post I chose to quote the Churchill variation ("pants on") because it's my favourite. I didn't mean to imply that the original thought was his, just that choice of words. Also, to the commenter who pointed out that "pants" isn't the preferred term in Britain (trousers is): I'm British so I know you're right, but there *are* Brits of a certain generation/class who might still say "pants". Churchill apparently was one of them. Some really good comments here, btw. Paul