Brit-Speak: clothing

[justcarol67]

Lee wrote:
> > If a jumper is an American sweater, then what do the Brits call the
> > sleeveless dress-like garment under which one might wear a long-
> sleeved blouse?  This is what we call a jumper...or used to when I was 
> about twenty or thirty years younger. :-)
> 
> Do you mean a pinafore?  That woould be a sleeveless dress, or a tank 
> top - a sleeveless knitted sweater. 
> A waistcoat is what you would call a vest - so what do you call what 
> we call a vest? (Underwear for upper body)
> Sarah
> also curious

Carol:
Waistcoat, weskit, vest: I think that's the etymology, but I didn't
look it up. When I was young, a girl's sleeveless undershirt was
simply that: an undershirt. Now the fancy ones are called camisoles.

http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/images/us/local/products/thumb/f06074_th.jpg

For men, a sleeveless undershirt was an undershirt; a short-sleeved
one was a T-shirt. Now T-shirts are colorful and worn as "outerwear."
(Grits teeth at the term.) I've been divorced for for quite some time,
so my terminology may be out of date. Also, Arizona men don't seem to
wear undershirts of either type, though they probably should!

As for pinafores, the term was formerly used for a frilly apron with a
sort of bib in front, worn by little girls (and Raggedy Ann dolls)
from the nineteenth century until the early 1950s to protect their
dresses from spills:

http://www.ushist.com/wardrobe/thumbs/lfhp_girls_pinafore_001_w-hat.jpg

It does seem to be used for jumpers now, judging from the photos I
found in a Google image search.

Carol, who has been informed by her son-in-law that real men don't
wear pajamas