Vanity Sizing

I learned a new term today: "vanity sizing."

You may already know what it is, but as a guy, I didn't. Basically, I was looking online for motorcycle riding pants—something tougher than jeans because jeans don't really protect too well from road rash. One of the mesh pants I was considering mentioned that the sizing was not vanity sizing … and so I wondered: "What in the world is this?"

Vanity sizing makes you feel smaller than you really are. So, those jeans you might now fit in that are size X, may actually be size Y (where X is 36 and Y is 38 … as an example: no, you're not fat). 

This blew my mind. (You're right, it doesn't take much.)

I figured there was "truth" in those sizing labels. It's a simple expectation. But this whole thing about "vanity sizing" makes me wonder what else in this wide world may not be what it's saying it is.