# Dego tee (Dago) / wife beater [men's undershirt (AE) / vest (BE)]



## perpend

I heard this term for the first time a couple weeks ago from a friend who's originally from Brooklyn.

I said "What?"---and, he proceeded to elaborate, and I told him my name for it, which I won't write here.

So, it's essentially a basic tank-top for men. I'm clear on the meaning, and everything, but have a question.

Do you use and/or understand "Dego tee", as an American English speaker (I'm most interested in that, but of course I'm interested in all input)?

I went through 46 years of life before ever hearing it.


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## sound shift

Never heard of it. How did your friend pronounce "Dego"? (I wonder if this is connected with "Dago", a derogatory term for Spanish and Portuguese people: http://www.wordreference.com/definition/dago .)


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## perpend

Hi, sound shift, "Day-go" (but use a Brooklyn accent, ). I already researched the etymolgy.


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## velisarius

Ahem...it's "dago", so with this thread I think (if we bear in mind the other name for them which you rightly saw fit not to write here), you have manged to insult roughly 80% of WRF members.


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## sound shift

perpend said:


> Hi, sound shift, "Day-go" (but use a Brooklyn accent, ). I already researched the etymolgy.


And what did you find? (I'm rusty on the Brooklyn accent: It's been a long time since I watched 'Top Cat'.)


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## EStjarn

It seems 'dago tee' is an alternative spelling.


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## perpend

Yes, I know I'm treading ... very ... lightly ... velisarius (shhh), but as he said it, it rhymes with "day-go" (above), or "hey-go", in American English.

"Dego" is most likely a variation on "Diego".

EDIT: Okay then, I just insulted a whole 'nother group. Sorry!


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## sound shift

Ah! But I am no more familiar with the _charming _alternative term: "wife beater".


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## pob14

sound shift said:


> Never heard of it. How did your friend pronounce "Dego"? (I wonder if this is connected with "Dago", a derogatory term for Spanish and Portuguese people: http://www.wordreference.com/definition/dago .)


In the US, it's a derogatory term for _Italians_.  This confused me no end when I first saw _Fawlty Towers_; I was convinced that Basil thought Manuel was Italian.


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## sound shift

I don't think we've offended or insulted anyone just by discussing a derogatory term: none of us _aimed _it at anyone.


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## HSS

<< Moderator's note: This thread has been added to a previous thread on similar issue. >>

*wife beaters*

This expression --- is this used commonly? More commonly than tank tops?

How come you're only wearing a wife-beater?
What a combination! You're wearing long johns and a wife beater!
Ma'am I'm looking for underwear. Which department on which floor should we go to? Do they sell wife beaters?
(All are my renditions)


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## owlman5

I probably _do_ hear "wife beater" more often than "tank top" in the speech of my friends, Hiro.  I've been hearing that term for about twenty or twenty-five years now.

To me, "wife beater" only refers to the plain white tank top.  Colored tank tops or tank tops with designs wouldn't qualify as wife beaters.  I suppose "wife beater" refers to the alleged popularity of that style of tee shirt among blue-collar workers who drink a lot and beat their wives frequently.


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## HSS

Hi, owlman.

It doesn't carry a negative connotation, despite the origin of the term, anymore, does it? People even don't think of wife beating upon hearing it at all?

Can you just use it like this in such a situation?
"Ma'am I'm looking for underwear. Which department on which floor should we go to? Do they sell wife beaters?"


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## Parla

I've _never_ heard this ugly phrase in reference to clothing.


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## owlman5

Hi, Hiro.  It _does_ carry a negative connotation that many people find funny.  That term evokes the same sort of impression in listeners that other prejudiced terms like "trailer trash" do.  

A great deal of US humor comes from laughing and joking about things that make us feel a little uncomfortable. Isn't the same principle true in Japan?

PS I just saw your post, Parla.  Your answer really surprised me.  Maybe you hang out with a gentler crowd than I do.


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## perpend

I've heard of this too, and there's also the infamous "Dago T", for New Yorkers.

HSS, I do *not *recommend using either term. It's very slang, and to be used in certain company.

So, yes it exists, but in your department store, ask for underwear, and ask if they sell white sleeveless T-shirts.


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## bennymix

I learned of the term recently, from its use by a female friend.   It's still in use.   Brando in 'Streetcar...' wore one at times.   As Owl says, it has a double edged pungency, in that the term appears the denigrate the wearer.

Examples, current.

Wife Beater: Men's Clothing | eBay

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/wife-beater

Clothing, Shoes & Accessories › Men's Clothing‎


> Shop huge inventory of Wife Beater Lot, Mens Wife Beaters, Hanes Wife Beater and more in T-Shirts and Men's Clothing on eBay. Find great deals and get free .


..
======


This example shows the deletion of 'wife,' perhaps because the item is a woman's garment-- more or less a tank top.   Perhaps it's deference to sensibilities.



> Beaters T-shirts, Shirts and Custom Beaters Clothing - Zazzle
> www.zazzle.com/beaters+tshirts‎
> 60+ items - Customizable beaters t-shirts from Zazzle.com - Choose your ...
> [...]
> Ladies' "Gush Girl" Beater T-shirt.


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## pops91710

I first heard it from men in the jail when I worked as a jailer 35 years ago.


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## owlman5

Hiro, I just noticed the last question you posted about using "wife beater" instead of "tank top" in a clothing store.  Perpend gave you good advice: don't do that.

Thanks, Benny, for the additional information about the commercial acceptance of "wife beater".  I never would have guessed that companies had adopted the term.

Thanks, Pops, for confirming my belief that the term has been around for decades.


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## HSS

Thanks all. I was more than just a bit afraid that I might offend people, maybe inclusive of those I would be just talking to but who were not actually wearing it when I was describing somebody else.

Hiro


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## owlman5

HSS said:


> Thanks all. I was more than just a bit afraid that I might offend people, maybe inclusive of those I would be just talking to but who were not actually wearing it when I was describing somebody else.
> 
> Hiro


You were wise to ask native speakers about that term, Hiro.  Edgy humor is always risky, and that's definitely a term that would offend some people.


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## natkretep

I've heard of the term, and I consider it an AmE term. It's not a term I'd use. I'd call it a _singlet_. (AmE speakers might not be familiar with this term.) I think of a _tank top _as a ladies garment, or as a sleeveless sweater.

The moral of all this: consider your audience!  English vocabulary is full of pitfalls.


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## Parla

Yes, _tank top_ is a women's garment.

Added: I've now followed the link in post #7. Those things, in my vocabulary, are _undershirts_. Men used to wear them under their shirts; some, I think, still do. (Most wear T-shirts.) I've never heard them referred to as "wife beaters". Yes, I do find the term offensive.


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## Language Hound

I find the term "wife beater" for an article of clothing extremely offensive,
and I'm appalled that e-bay uses it.
I'm not a politically correct kind of person but, really, what's next...
finding a common article of clothing child molesters wear and naming
it a "child molester"?!!

The one and only time I heard the term "wife beater" used for a man's
sleeveless undershirt was years ago on TV.

I would definitely advise people not to use this term.


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## DonnyB

As the first BE speaker to contribute to this discussion, I'm certainly familiar with the term "wife beater", and know what it means, but I wouldn't say it's in widespread common use on this side of the Atlantic.  Although definitely slang, I regard it as humorous more than offensive. 

I see they're openly listed on eBay-UK, and I imagine probably in "alternative clothing" outlets over here, but I would not recommend going into an upmarket department store and asking if they sell them.


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## suzi br

Yuck.
I find it a revolting term. It is American in origin, but we hear it in films etc. So I did know what it means. I have never heard it spoken by any one in my circles. Certainly, best avoided in my view!


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## pops91710

The term has been pared down to just 'beaters' for those who have a scintilla of sensitivity. (At least here where I live) I heard a young man just recently tell his wife will walking the aisles of the local JC Penny store, "I need to get some new beaters", and he was not in the cooking utensils section!!


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## Egmont

natkretep said:


> I've heard of the term, and I consider it an AmE term. It's not a term I'd use. I'd call it a _singlet_. (AmE speakers might not be familiar with this term.) ...


Americans who participate in track and field athletics are quite familiar with this term. It's not used for underwear of that style, though, so I agree that familiarity may not be universal here.


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## AsifAkheir

In the film 'The Godfather', there is a scene of a man beating up his wife while wearing this type of undershirt. That was the least significant aspect of that movie and I was quite surprised to hear that it had originated a new word in the English language. It is an offensive scene in an offensive movie by an offensive director. Go figure!


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## PaulQ

But is is only a film - it's not real. No actors were harmed.


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## bennymix

Note to Asif.   'The Godfather' was 1972.    The term long predates that, as far as I know.   See the proposed history at

http://www.pauldavidson.net/2005/05/13/words-for-your-enjoyment-wife-beaters/


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## AsifAkheir

Yo, Paulyyy Q! True no actor were harmed, only the reputations of all Italian non-beaters-of-wives, if such a compound noun exists.


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## AsifAkheir

Thanks for the informative link, bennymix.
 The association between 'undershirt' and 'wife beating' may have started with James  Hartford, Jr's arrest in 1947 in Detroit, Michigan for beating his wife to death while wearing a  dirty tank top. I wonder, though if the expression had spread to the rest of the English speaking world until 'The Godfather'. Here in western Canada I never heard it before the movie came out. Maybe in eastern Canada? What about the UK? Australia?


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## PaulQ

The OED probably needs to do more research. Their earliest record is "1993    _Crazy Stanford Law Students on Acid—True Crime!!_ in  _alt.drugs_          (Usenet newsgroup)      18 Nov.,                   Pee-Wee had the emaciated body of Tolkien's Gollum and sported brown khakis and a wifebeater tanktop."

I'm a little doubtful about the origins in "waif-beater" at bennymix's link. The story, more or less word for word, appears on many sites without references and is the only evidence. You would wonder how a knight lost his armour and why "waif" was used as it has the meaning of "ownerless".


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## bennymix

There is a proposed history by Jesse at

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101115205153AAMHYcB

Question.  Is it true the or some Brits called Stella Artois beer, 'wife beater'?  (Again, I'd suppose because of the association with lower class and violence.)

ADDED:   I did a bit of Google search and the 1990s are commonly cited as the time of origin for the term, applied to an undershirt.   The problem is that there *is* a history of the popular use of the stock phrase "wife beater" to apply to a person.   The *popular *designation of male domestic abusers as 'wife beaters' has a longer history--perhaps going back to the 1950s, perhaps occasionally way before that.  There is thus the phenomenon of males designated as 'wife beaters' being seen or portrayed as loving to wear this garment.  Kowalski in 'Streetcar', one of the males in 'Some Were Warriors', a male in 'The Godfather' and so on.   It may be hard to find when the 'jump' occurred to simply designating the garment as such.


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## PaulQ

The on-line site of the national newspaper, Daily Mail, in an article called "Where did it all go wrong for the beer they call 'wife beater'?" says:





> Tap the words "Stella Artois" and "wife beater" into an internet search engine, though, and you'll see just how commonly used the nasty nickname is.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-494149/Where-did-wrong-beer-wife-beater.html#ixzz2u8g17QPA and there is this ill-advised advert that supports it (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/5010774/Apology-over-wife-beating-lager-ad-at-Londis.html) so I suspect that it is correct, but just how common it is, I personally can't say.


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## ewie

bennymix said:


> http://www.ebay.com/bhp/wife-beater


I wouldn't know what you were talking about if you called these either _wife-beaters_ or _dago tees _in my vicinity.  They're vests.  (And _tanktop_ means something different to me too.)


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## bennymix

Around here, there is NO resemblance of a vest, to a 'wife beater' t.     For one thing, a vest is rarely worn alone;  it's on top.  But even if it were, as in this pic,  NO resemblance.

https://d1ij7zv8zivhs3.cloudfront.net/assets/5981879/lightbox/Men's Denim Vest.jpg?1343389082

compare:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YQTuZGyt4...U/7zjaTW2QOFw/s1600/man+wife+beater+gross.jpg

NOTE:  Sometimes the Brits can be so UNcool, as Paul has cited:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/5010774/Apology-over-wife-beating-lager-ad-at-Londis.html


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## suzi br

bennymix said:


> Around here, there is NO resemblance of a vest, to a 'wife beater' t.     For one thing, a vest is rarely worn alone;  it's on top.  But even if it were, as in this pic,  NO resemblance.
> 
> https://d1ij7zv8zivhs3.cloudfront.net/assets/5981879/lightbox/Men's Denim Vest.jpg?1343389082
> 
> compare:
> http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YQTuZGyt4...U/7zjaTW2QOFw/s1600/man+wife+beater+gross.jpg
> 
> NOTE:  Sometimes the Brits can be so UNcool, as Paul has cited:
> 
> http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/5010774/Apology-over-wife-beating-lager-ad-at-Londis.html



Because you guys  call waiscoats "vests" and we dont in the UK! 

For us the word vest means a thing you wear under your clothes, usually sleeveless ... and gender-free, men and women wear the same type of things and call them vests.

How you can call us Brits un-cool when you guys invented the term wife-beater amazes me


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## bennymix

You know what I think, suzi, which may explain your offense at the term.    It's becoming plausible to me that, although the term *might* have originated as a 'put down' by those considering themselves NOT of the lower classes,   the resurgence in the 1990s is quite likely a kind of *protest* by the declasse', or at very least a thumbing of nose against PC authority.    Not unlike flying the confederate flag if you live in Tennessee.

This came to me looking at examples among the images.   Perhaps this is 're appropriation,' as with the term, 'queer.'

http://dismagazine.com/uploads/2011/03/wife_beater_tshirt-p235011219846390526gvgf_400.jpeg

http://preg.org/collectibles/www.wife-beaters.com/images/image1.jpg

http://rlv.zcache.com/funny_wife_be...b94d1c8a1674d9a8d7214c6c669b1ce_8n22t_512.jpg


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## bennymix

Just to be clear, suzi, you're saying that in the UK, if this fellow came in, you'd say, "He's wearing a waistcoat.  In denim."

https://d1ij7zv8zivhs3.cloudfront.net/assets/5981879/lightbox/Men's Denim Vest.jpg?1343389082

Sound very Victorian to me!.


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## suzi br

bennymix said:


> Just to be clear, suzi, you're saying that in the UK, if this fellow came in, you'd say, "He's wearing a waistcoat.  In denim."
> 
> https://d1ij7zv8zivhs3.cloudfront.net/assets/5981879/lightbox/Men's Denim Vest.jpg?1343389082
> 
> Sound very Victorian to me!.



No doubt it is part of our rich heritage, but waistcoat is the word we still use for that sort of thing. 
Although that particular one in your image is not very traditional so maybe fashionistas would call it something else .. it looks more like a sleeveless jacket to me .. but it is still not a VEST, not in England, for sure!


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## suzi br

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/words/british-and-american-terms

This Oxford dictionary list includes the items we are discussing.


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## ewie

bennymix said:


> "He's wearing a waistcoat.  In denim."
> 
> https://d1ij7zv8zivhs3.cloudfront.net/assets/5981879/lightbox/Men's Denim Vest.jpg?1343389082


_Sleeveless denim jacket._


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## bennymix

Trying to understand  "divided by a common language."   Did we settle whether 'wife beater' is used in Britain--for the undershirts, not the beer?


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## Loob

No, "wife-beater" isn't used in BrE for what you (but not we) would call _an undershirt_, benny.  See post 37.


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## bennymix

Just to be clear though, some British folks do talk like this, about 'wife beater,' the beer:
[Thanks to Paul in post #36, above, for a similar example.]

http://www.shacknet.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=1307&st=180

*Friday Night Booze Action Or Loft Hoovering     *

Posted 14 January 2005 - 03:53 PM

    Miles Away
    Gender:Male
    Location:Manchester



> Hi there Sourmash....
> 
> I'll have a pint of wife beater please.
> 
> As for booze action tonight, I'm going to meet mrs jeff in town at 5 so hopefully that will lead to a few bevvies.... 1. Trying not to drink & 2. Skint.... Ah well it is Friday though!



===
Reeling!


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## sound shift

bennymix said:


> Just to be clear though, some British folks do talk like this, about 'wife beater,' the beer


I'm willing to bet that that's just humour by that poster. Some might call it "bad taste" or "misguided", but as far as I know (and I am quite knowledgeable in such matters) there is no beer called "Wife Beater" - but the term resonates with us BrE speakers (or at least with the boozers among us) because there are plenty of humorous real beer names formed of two words, with the second ending in -er. Most such beers are of ridiculous strength. I couldn't swear that there's actually a "Head Cracker", but if there isn't, there's a very similar name.


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## JustKate

I call it an _undershirt_, too. I have heard the term _wife-beater_, but (1) I don't like it, for many reasons and (2) it isn't a term that I hear used very often. There might be generational differences in the use of this term.


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