[Byron]

I enjoyed those posts and as tw* says the more it is explained the more it is likely to confuse - but Dooley has picked up the salient points.
I think we have to blame the staff at the knitting mills in Sydney in 1928 for kicking all this off - just as we have to blame Mr Hoover for a short name easy to remember for his vacuum cleaner home appliance (which even turned into a verb for the action of cleaning the carpets).

By my own rule of thumb a speedo style suit from Speedo is solely of that brand and a speedo from Adidas, a speedo from Turbo, a speedo from Arena, etc etc etc etc , account for the rest.
The difference between board shorts and speedos seems to be clear for most but it is the body-coverage between each and what is designed to be a loose/tight fit and more up or more down the thigh which causes all the confusion (not helped by journalists who don't know what they are talking about in fashion articles which crop up in trendy magazines - but I do agree with Mies Van De Rohe that less is often more).

*in the Roman reportage I still don't understand the context of "clammy" and for my generation brothel creepers were nothing to do with shorts, but the shoes of Teddy Boys.