wifebeaters Re: Closets and Wardrobes

[sistermagpie]

> > Magpie:
> > Oh, sorry. I must have thought you were translating or something, 
> which 
> > is why I said "just call it an undershirt."
> > 
> > But wife-beater is pretty much what I've gotten used to by now. 
If 
> it's 
> > unfamiliar it's going to be offensive but I consider it pretty 
> standard 
> > now.
> 
> 
> Potioncat:
> It's a specific type of undershirt. The A style, without sleeves. 
It 
> used to be a man's undershirt and I think the term has a 
stereotypic 
> ethnic connotation. 

Magpie:
Yes, I know the kind of shirt it is--I got confused thinking it was a 
translation or something, so I was thinking we were talking about a 
real man's sleeveless undershirt worn by a man. As opposed to like 
what I was wearing layered under a shirt yesterday.

It does have ethnic connotations--I mean, this is the shirt Stanley 
Kowalski wears while he's yelling and beating his wife etc. It used 
to have an even more offensive ethnic name, I believe. I think there 
was a time some people called it a "guinea tee."

But it this is supposed to be a contemporary romance novel about 
modern young people that's probably the word that would be used. One 
could use "black tank top" if they didn't like it, but if the author 
chose wife-beater she probably chose the trendier term on purpose.

-m