Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: Re: La canottiera

 taken as a disclaimer.
You should put it in your signature!!! :-)
  - Anonymous

 Non c'č un termine piů sintetico?
singlet
Kiuhnm

 Non c'č un termine piů sintetico?
BrE: vest (ma "vest" significa "waistcoat" in AmEn). Mi pare si dica 
undershirt in AmEn

 Kiuhnm
Hmm. In the US a "singlet" is a one-piece consisting of top *and* bottom, of 
the type used by wrestlers.
For the top only, it can be a Tank Top or an Athletic Shirt (sometimes, but 
rarely, an A-Shirt; as opposed to a T-Shirt, which has sleeves.)
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 singlet
Mai sentito usare. Dove l'hai preso?

 the type used by wrestlers.
Yes. It's used as "canottiera" only in British English.
Kiuhnm

                 -- George Orwell
As Joey already told you, over here it's "tank top".  It's used for
men and also women.
A.

 Yes. It's used as "canottiera" only in British English.
They use also "tank top", then maybe we should avoid "singlet". I don't 
know...
Kiuhnm

 
Women's bathing suits (the old-fashioned one-piece suits, with straps) used 
to be called "tank suits." (These would be more or less the same as what a 
"singlet" is these days: a one-piece stretch suit worn by wrestlers, for 
example.)
After bikinis came along, tank suits were also called "one-pieces" (one-piece 
suits), as opposed to a two-piece or bikini.
The word "tank" was referring to the pool that the suit was worn in, a 
swimming pool, I imagine.
Since today's apparel is only a top, it's a "tank top" not a suit.
I've just learned that "tank top" in Britain is different, but I can't 
attest.
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 attest.
Not quite, I wasn't completely right.
This is what Collins COBUILD dictionary says:
A tank top is a knitted piece of clothing that covers the upper part of 
your body and has no sleeves. (BRIT)
A tank top is a soft cotton shirt with no sleeves, collar, or buttons. (AM)
A singlet is a sleeveless sports shirt worn by athletes and boxers. (BRIT)
A singlet is a plain sleeveless piece of underwear which is worn on the 
upper half on the body (BRIT).
I hope it helps.
Kiuhnm

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Britons usually say "vest" for canottiera
-- 
Di rara bellezza,
un aquilone si leva verso il cielo
dalla capanna del mendico
http://www.lorologiaiomiope.com

 Kiuhnm
ciao
Gennaro 

 Britons usually say "vest" for canottiera
I remember a Simpsons' episode where Burns sang "see my vest". But it 
was a coat, maybe a waistcoat. This word has really got plenty of meanings!
Kiuhnm


There is a sleeveless cotton shirt which has a coarser weave than a T-shirt,
and is therefore almost sheer and is sometimes described as "ribbed", which
is worn in place of a T-shirt in the summer. Then there is the A-shirt,
which is basically a sleeveless T-shirt. Then there are "muscle shirts",
which are considered more fashionable versions of the two previously
mentioned, and are worn as outerwear by some. Would all of these sleeveless
items be covered by the word "canottiera"?
Joe from Massachusetts

 Non c'è un termine più sintetico?
Io voto decisamente per "vest", almeno in Br En
Italian men ditch their vests in favour of exotic holidays
Sophie Arie in Rome
Sunday January 25, 2004
The Observer
Amid the turmoil of the Parmalat scandal and debate over whether Prime 
Minister Silvio Berlusconi is 'more equal' before the law than others, 
a small but significant bit of news slipped out.
Italians no longer wear vests. The government has officially consigned 
the classic, white sleeveless garment to the national dustbin.
Istat, the government statistics office, has informed the country that 
the humble vest, for decades a symbol of Italy's sweating and toiling 
working class, has been demoted from the national shopping basket, a 
list of staples used to calculate inflation.
With hazelnuts, upholstery fabric, silver spoons and miniature cars, 
the 'canottiera', the government decided, was 'in decline'.
Instead, Italians are spending their money on cars, satellite dishes, 
exotic holidays and mopeds.
Of all the avalanche of annual state-of-the-nation information that has 
bombarded Italians this January - record divorce rates, increasingly 
obese children, rising anti-Semitism - the demise of the vest has 
touched a sentimental chord.
'Addio,' said the Corriere della Sera 's Gian Antonio Stella, in a 
piece entitled 'Decline of the vest'. 'Will we ever forget them?'
'It's the end of an era,' he wrote, adding that as the 'land of the 
mamma' progressed, leaving the securities of the past behind, it was 
bound eventually to reject 'maternal advice' on how to keep warm.
'The announcement surprised people, nevertheless, triggering a sort of 
dismay,' Stella wrote. For more than a century, the vest has been the 
symbol of Italy's honest, hard-working class, representing both poverty 
and physical strength. On holiday, the vest became working-class beach 
uniform, covering up pasta-filled paunches and providing perfect 
protection from the sun. Since the vest was invented in the nineteenth 
century, film stars have made it a symbol of virility and politicians 
have attempted to harness its powerful populist symbolism. Benito 
Mussolini used the vest as a sign of earthy strength and virility.
But 60 years after the war, Italy is a consumer society and the demise 
of the humble piece of underwear is seen as confirmation that Italy is 
now officially rich.
'Vests are a sign of the poverty in Italy's past,' said Maria di Salvia 
Baldini, author of a dictionary of clothes called The ABC of Elegance . 
'They are not just out of date, they have become a bit of an 
embarrassment. If a man absolutely has to buy a vest these days, he'll 
call it a "health T-shirt" instead.'
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1130570,00.html

 Io voto decisamente per "vest", almeno in Br En
Definitely. Just be aware that a vest is a very different thing in AmE, quite 
the opposite, in fact, of a British vest: it's a dressy garment, for the most 
part; part of a three-piece suit in some cases.
Another example of two nations divided by a common language.



Any vest I ever owned had buttons.
Joe from Massachusetts

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Same here.
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 Non c'č un termine piů sintetico?
Mi sono imbattuto in "wifebeater"... che ne dite? 

 
Oh yeah, it's also called that... but not without its dangers...
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 Oh yeah, it's also called that... but not without its dangers...
Infatti, dato il contesto ambiguo, all'inizio pensavo che si trattasse di 
violenze domestiche... 

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Not necessarily, but it implies a strong sexist element. I've only heard it 
used jokingly (and far from any wife's earshot.)
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 Not necessarily, but it implies a strong sexist element. 
In fact, the converse - husbandbeater - is not common, unless you are 
talking of my ex-wife. It's most commonly "tank top" if it's a gal 
wearing it

 talking of my ex-wife.
Two little letters; such great significance.
Ex-
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