Wife-beater

Posted by James Briggs on December 31, 2002

In Reply to: Wife-beater posted by sorehand on December 31, 2002

: Do people from the UK use the word "singlet" when refering to the tank top style men's undershirt? Or is that too archaic?

: My Japanese girlfriend throws all these ancient english words at me. I didn't know what she was talking about. Singlet? I looked it up on the internet. Oh...a "wife-beater"? Wakarim a****a.

: My question is, how long has the slang word for a men's undershirt "wife-beater" been around? I'm guessing it's definitely a "post-modern" thing, whatever that means.

'Singlet' is a standard UK term for the sort of 'vest' you describe - that's another UK speciality, and we don't use the term 'undershirt'. As far as 'wife beater' is concerned, I've never heard of it.

• Wife-beater R. Berg 12/31/02
  • Wife-beater masakim 12/31/02