What the heck is the difference between Culottes & Gauchos?

Today I have a little history lesson for ya'll. I pulled out pattern to make a pair of Culottes. I then started thinking back when I was a young girl I had a pair of denim Gauchos with a matching denim vest. Then I started thinking to myself "what is the difference between the two? So a Google search it would be.

Culottes are an item of clothing, originally the knee-breeches commonly worn by gentlemen of the European upper-classes from the late Middle Ages or Renaissance through the early nineteenth century. 

Another use of the word culottes describes a split or divided skirt or any garment which hangs like a skirt, but is actually pants. During the Victorian Era, long split skirts were used for horseback riding so that women could sit on a man's saddle rather than riding side-saddle. The term "culottes" was co-opted from the original French definition of the word to describe these split riding skirts. Later, split skirts were developed to provide women more freedom to do things like gardening, cleaning, bike riding, etc. and still look like she was wearing a skirt. 

.......and   Gaucho is an equivalent of the North American "cowboy" (vaquero, in Spanish) The Gaucho is a nationalistic symbol in both Argentina and Uruguay. The Gauchos became greatly admired and renowned in legends, folklore and in literature and became an important part of their regional cultural tradition. Beginning late in the 19th century, after the heyday of the gauchos, they were celebrated by South American writers. 

Gaucho: noun, plural gauchos  [gou-chohz; Spanish gou-chaws]
1. a native cowboy of the South American pampas, usually of mixed Spanish and Indian ancestry.
2. gauchos, Also called gaucho pants. wide, calf-length trousers for men or women modeled after the trousers worn by South American gauchos.

So what is the difference? The answer to that question is that there is no damn difference, it just depends on what you want to call them, Culottes or Gauchos! Some people separate the difference by the length or the width of the legs. Anywhooo you don't really hear people using the word Gauchos now-a-days[unless they are over 45 years old]. I'm pretty sure my 27 year old daughter would not know what I was talking about if I told her I was going to make her a pair of Gauchos. So it's a matter of "you say tomato, I say tomahto", well not exactly but you get where I'm going with this.

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