The term is slang for a sleeveless white T-shirt....I think the TV show "COPS" had a lot do with the creation of this word. Every time they showed a guy getting arrested for beating his wife he was wearing one of those sleeveless undershirts.
The functional reason why people wear a "wife beater" under a shirt is because, like any undershirt, they are meant to prevent excess sweat from showing on the overshirt, and also to prevent an overshirt from appearing see-through by preventing your nipples from showing through the shirt. If you have a hairy chest, they also hide chest hair.
Fashion-wise, it has simply become fashionable - primarily in urban fashion - to wear a wife-beater. Though I couldn't trace the history, this type of shirt is often worn by basketball players, and this may explain why it rose to fashion.
The slang term "wife beater" originates from the popularity of the shirt among post-war working class men, who are stereotypically imagined as violent or abusive.
This blogger went way deeper than I did: Thanks guy....
here are a few examples of the wifebeater I found ....
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| wifebeater t-shirt |
Be-advised I did not write any of this material above I copied and pasted all the info in this entry until this paragraph. Why because I can.
What are you gonna do about it???? Are you grading me... Don't judge me. Don't hate me because I am beautiful ... Just because your having a not so fresh moment don't take it out on me... I sometimes sport a wife-beater. My reason for it is that its lighter than a tshirt and the neck comes down lower. I carry a pistol in a device I call the
man bra. The
man bra allows me to keep the weapon concealed under the armpit area. it fits around my torsoe and velcro's in the front. Most of the time I have on loose clothing to allow me access to the weapon somewhat quickly... You never know what your gonna run into out there in the world. If some thug tries to carjack me.. They would be fucked... I can legally mess there day up.. see example...
Enough for today... Shalom and amen...
PS.. I had a typed conversation last night with a old friend and got some disturbing info... It hit me like finding out that Superman was not real... Say it ain't so... But hey we learn something new everyday.. UN-FUCKING BELIEVABLE !!!!!