Yep Byron. I wear “zungas” at the beach I was born finishing the 70’s that mean in a decade when the zunga (speedo) and the square pants for swim was very common to wear.
BUT at middle of 80’s the speedo was not common here them I begin to wear “Bermuda shorts” ..by the way, I back to wear speedos in travels to places were the speedo was common to use at the year 2001 and I back definitely to wear speedos (zungas) at 2008.
Is not common to use it here (the speedo) but “step by step” year to year I can see more guys in speedo at my local beach. (I think the speedo is coming back here)
About the name “zunga” you are right about the world is from Brazil but the word is not portuguese word.
At the 70’s speedo built a factory of swimbriefs in Brazil, them a lot of local factories in Brazil begging to make swimbriefs make with lycra them the swimbrief begin to be very popular in Rio de Janeiro.
The Brazilian people call to the swim brief with the name “sunga” because the soldiers of the “sunga empire” (185 BC-73 BC in India) used loincloths and the “sunga-swimming brief” look like a loincloths because early 70’s the sungas was the “bikini-male” very very shortly (Now sunga in Brazil is a square pants)
By the way, as I told you square pants to swim in south America at the 70’s an early 80’s was very common to wear, them nobody call it like “zunga” it just was called “male swimwear” because nobody dress another swimwear here, them the word “zunga” in south America (in the countries were speak Spanish) was born maybe at the 1984, remember in Brazil the people speack portugues but in the rest of south America the language is Spanish, “Zunga” (With “Z”) was the translate in spanish to the word “Sunga” used in Brazil ( where they speak portuguese) Also no in all the Latin-Americans countries who speak Spanish the “swim Brief” is named “Zunga” it is most called Zunga in Chile, Argentina, Perú, Paraguay and Uruguay.
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