What is the difference between beaters and tank tops

Some may just refer to it as a white tank top, synonymous with an undershirt. For many others, it's a "wife-beater. Seen on everyone from rappers like Nelly and Eminem to middle school girls at camp and teenage boys flexing their muscles, the wife-beater has become an inescapable part of our basic clothing culture — and so has its problematic name, as part of our everyday vernacular.

And for some reason this is offensive to nobody. Let's start at the beginning. Way back in the medieval era , when knights and lords and queens ruled the European land, there was such a thing as a " waif beater.

That man, left abandoned on the field and certainly ready to be speared, was called a "waif beater," with "waif" referring to an abandoned person and "beater" as in he's about to get beat. The connection to sleeveless shirts may be a total coincidence, but linguists do cite these medieval origins for the phrase "wife beater," to refer to an abusive spouse.

The first use of "wife beater" was seen in the New York Times, for example, in , to describe a man who had beat his wife. So when did it become synonymous with a man's white undershirt? It seems the association of male anger with white tank tops built slowly over the course of decades, starting around the midth century — with a viral news story, of course.

In , a man named James Hartford Jr. In the stories about his arrest and trial, which went national , there was a picture of Hartford in a scraggly and stained white tank top; beside the picture, articles would refer to him as "the wife-beater. Around the same time, Hollywood steeped in further the link between male rage and white tanks. Post-World War II, filmmakers became transfixed with films about violent, abusive and outright dangerous men, and the tight white tank top became a regular onscreen occurrence.

Think A Streetcar Named Desire. Think Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Think Bonnie and Clyde. In each of those films, as the men started to get increasingly heated or upset, their go-to move was to rip off their shirts — only to reveal a white, sweat-stained undershirt.

Even as they started popping up in almost every gangster movie, the shirts still hadn't earned the name "wife-beater" and were still referred to as "undershirts. Log in. Install the app. Forums English Only English Only. JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly. You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.

Thread starter Shandol Start date Jan 7, Undershirt: An undergarment worn under a shirt; a vest. Click to expand The definition of both seems fine to me, so of course they are not interchangeable. I have no idea if tank tops are still worn. They were popular in the seventies. Myridon Senior Member Texas. Uncle Jack said:. View attachment Sleeveless undershirts and tank tops have basically the same shape, although women's tank tops vary more in length and shape of the neck opening.

Beach Towels and Pool Towels. View All. About Us. Contact Us. Your cart is empty. How the Wife Beater Shirt Got Its Name The fact is, there is not a single, agreed-upon story as to why these A-style tank tops are known as wife beater tank tops.

The Silent Movie Story When Hollywood first started making movies in the early 20t century, they had picture shows before they had the ability to add sound. The COPS Story Another pop culture explanation of the wife beater shirt coincides with the decades where these shirts went beyond a simple undershirt and became an actual fashion.

The Medieval Story So, it seems like the term wife beater being used to describe a sleeveless white tank top started sometime between or so and the s, right? Wife Beater Shirts in Fashion Today No matter where the term originated, what you need to know about the wife beater shirt today is that is has come a long way from the days it was used to specify the dastardly intentions of a movie character or was found on the back of a terrible criminal.

Conclusion There are a lot of ways that the wife beater shirt may have gotten its name. They come in a wide variety different designs and styles. There are different necklines such as simple scoop neck or V-neck and different strap styles such as racerbacks crisscross in the back, spaghetti straps, and halter tops tied behind the neck. They can be in solid colors or in patterns; some tank tops also have embellishments or words on them.

Tank tops may also have a loose fit or a snug fit. Tank tops can be worn just like shirts, paired with shorts, pants, skirts and leggings. They are also worn as undershirts beneath transparent or light shirts. Some people wear them beneath cardigans and jackets.

Thus, tank tops have multiple uses. When worn as outerwear like shirts , they are mostly appropriate for warm climates. But they can be also worn beneath clothing during colder weather to stay warm. A singlet is a tight fitting, sleeveless garment that is worn instead of a shirt or as an undershirt.