Talk:Wifebeater (shirt)

message: Voicing my agreement that tank top shouldn't be on VfD; question though: I always heard of this in the context of a button-front shirt with the sleeves removed... - Hephæstos|§ 04:05, 16 Feb 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: I still disagree, although perhaps the vernacular has changed since the '80s. I think the axe handle in the picture might have skewed the poll. - Hephæstos|§ 04:11, 16 Feb 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: I have never heard of a wifebeater having buttons (I'm American).  Do any tank tops have buttons?  I also think wifebeaters are n't only associated with whites or italians -- it is a big part of hip hop music also.--Esprit15d 02:22, 27 December 2005 (UTC)

text: "A-shirt" would seem to indicate "athletic shirt" or "athletic undershirt" as I've seen on other packaging. knoodelhed 21:07, 17 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: General

message: ISTR in that "screaming in the rain" scene Stan was wearing an ordinary T-shirt. But I might need to watch the movie again to be sure. knoodelhed 21:07, 17 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: The "Stella" link is nothing to do with shirts. PeteVerdon 17:50, 6 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: A Streetcar Named Desire

message: I heard Stella the beer was called wifebeater here in the UK because when police go to check on domestic violence calls, they usually see cans or bottles of Stella Artois lieing around. 80.229.234.135 04:57, 7 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, it is a very common nickname for Stella Artois, due to it's slightly higher than usual alcohol strength (5.2% ABV, compared to the usual 5% ABV). Strong Spanish lagers are often known similarly as "Senorita beater". These aren't related to the use for a vest/tank top/singlet/etc though :) DWaterson 21:16, 30 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Stella Artois

message: I think Wifebeater (shirt) would be a more appropriate title for the article. Does anyone agree? Coffee 18:26, 6 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Wifebeater (shirt) sounds good to me. Alexander 007 19:02, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

text: Besides, one can imagine "Wifebeater" acquiring additional slang meanings, thus the disambiguation (shirt) would be the best. Alexander 007 19:13, 6 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Great. :) Coffee 19:15, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

text: But having the article under the title Wifebeater is so much more interesting, and seems to set up the best tone for the article. Most of the material also revolves around the wifebeater meaning. A proposed move to "A-shirt" is controversial, and we should at the least vote on it before any move is made. Alexander 007 19:19, 6 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, I certainly think we should vote (or at least discuss) which is why I mentioned it here instead of going ahead and doing it myself. I think, as an encyclopedia, we should be more concerned with what is accurate rather than interesting. And I think it best that we stick with our naming conventions. Which phrase is more popualr is difficult to assess. I think the fact that most adults probably don't call them wifebeaters, and certainly the manufacturers and  sellers do not, says something about what one should expect an encyclopedia to call them. I have no problem with the slang name being the primary topic of the article (though I don't think it should be the only one), but that does not mean the title has to match. -R. fiend 19:56, 6 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Agree. Wifebeater is not used in formal conversation. I think news organizations in the U.S. use "undershirt" or "white tank top", but the modesty includes them in a larger category of clothing. Rename to A-shirt or Merge information with tank top. As a side note, Chicago 'L' uses the name the city refers to it as, despite nearly all people knowing it as The Chicago El. --Grocer 02:02, 2 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Article name 

message: A-shirt is the proper name. When I worked at Montgomery Wards from 1984 to 1986 that was what was on the label.
Some guys who bought them just called them T-shirts even thought they don't have sleeves.
I didn't hear them called wife beaters until COPS (TV series) which would often show wife beaters
wearing wife beaters.
Note that I live in Kansas City, MO and before that I lived in Kansas. Other comments on here seem
to suggest that wife beater was used more in other parts of the country. --Gbleem 15:13, 29 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  A-shirt is the proper name 

message: As many people have commented that having the article on the shirt style as "wifebeater" is inappropriate and offensive, I will move the shirt to "A-shirt" soon unless there is significant objection or if a better name is presented. (Certainly the slang nickname should be mentioned in the article, but the articles should not be structred to make the nickname the sole point of the article.) -- Infrogmation 17:20, 23 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I would strongly object to moving and restructuring the article. "A-shirt" does deserve its own article, but "wifebeater" is a significant term, at least in American culture, and it deserves the thorough explanation given here. I agree with the observation, that, at least in the United States, it is the most commonly understood and used name for the item. Yes, manufacturers call them "A-shirts," but most people don't know what an A-shirt is.Acsenray 17:42, 25 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text:  Yes, the shirt themselves are often just known as "undershirts" and various regional terms (eg, "esplanades" around here). I note at present undershirt is simply a redirect, probably it should be turned into an article, I think. If you have a strong feeling we need a seperate article at "wifebeater (shirt)", that article should be specifically about the insulting slang term and its usage, certainly not about the shirt. -- Infrogmation 21:29, 25 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text:  I made a poor stubby start at the needed undershirt article. Improvements very welcome.  -- Infrogmation 22:09, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

text: I went looking for this page under the name "wife beater" because I wanted to know what the term means.  It's in use all over the place - I've seen it on two blogs in the last few days, at least one of which is written by a woman.  It may be offensive, but it's language.  If there's a Wikipedia article for fuck, there should be one for this too.  By all means move the bulk of the article to some less contentious title if you must, but keep short description here of the meaning of the term.--Eric TF Bat 06:32, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text:  I think that "wifebeater" ought to be merged into "a-shirt", as that is the technical term for the garment, "wifebeater" should be a redirect to "a-shirt". Yes, the term is offensive, which is noted in the article, but we're not in the business of Bowdlerization here. --Kerowyn  Leave a note  00:19, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

text: The problem of course is deciding what is the most common name in English, and whose English that might be!  Wifebeater to my knowledge has never been used in Australia to describe clothing.  A-shirt would be equally meaningless to most people.  Singlet would be the usual term for the item that was originally an undergarment with narrow straps across the shoulders and a low neck.  Sleeveless t-shirt is the term for just that - a t-shirt without sleeves.  Tank top is an equivalent term for singlet, but sounds a little outdated and 70s-ish.  ☸ Moilleadóir 06:01, 24 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Move to A-shirt

message: Boy beater redirects here, but the article gives no definition of it (a female version of a wife beater). Someone should put a sentance or two in the article about it. --CannedLizard 19:44, 3 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Boy Beater

message: Wherever the article ends up... There should be a mention in the pop culture section of the term's use on either the show "Wife Swap" or "Trading Spouses" (I'm not sure which), a clip of which was prominently featured on the show "The Soup" within the past year, probably on the "Reality Show Clip Time" segment. It was from one of those shows where wives from two very different families trade places for a short period and change things around to suit them. The wife was shown continually telling one of the boys to "put on your wifebeater," which had an especially outlandish effect in that context. (Obviously the person who makes the addition will have to be more familiar than I!) Lawikitejana 02:53, 18 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Pop culture/media references 

message: that is the worst possible photo for this article - a scrawny guy in a top that is too big for him... your typical wifebeater would be bulky and broad, and think of himself as macho... bad photo Saccerzd 16:09, 1 November 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree about the picture... it is horrible. DLX 19:06, 1 November 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree the picture isn't great, but as for a wifebeater being bulky and broad, and thinking of himself as macho, that may be true if the article were directly about men that beat their wives.  But in this case the article is about the article of clothing, which can be worn by anyone Pnkrockr 15:33, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

text: I disagree.  My brother weighs about 150lbs, and he wears nothing but wifebeaters, and so do a lot of other skinny people.  Saying that only muscle bound men wear wifebeaters is stupid.  -the Reverend AG
that picture is of a user called scepia--72.184.201.3 04:27, 29 November 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Can anyone confirm that the picture is actually of a "male" as the caption says? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 142.167.88.21 (talk) 08:08, 8 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Photo 

message: I personally coined this term in 1983 or 1984 in reference to a friend's date who was wearing said shirt. I said "be careful, he's wearing a wife beater shirt." I also used the term Kowalski for the shirt but wife beater seemed to be more understandable to the less literate crowd. It caught on throughout high school and I continued to introduce it in college. Years later, I would be surprised by its use by people I didn't know and in the media. Whether I was the first, I don't know but it was original to me when I first said it. I often wonder if it just spread from that.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2605:E000:3C91:300:C9CB:9271:CEAD:2FC2 (talk) 19:42, 6 March 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Unsourced Origin of Phrase "Wifebeater" 

message: Should this page even exist? 144.132.216.253 04:21, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  exist