wifebeater

bilby It was probably around the time someone shot the f*cker. It wasn't me. Jul 26, 2011

ruzuzu That's so weird. First, my introduction to Stella Artois came from a woman who was living with me for a while when she was hiding out from an abusive partner. I'm not sure whether she knew the Streetcar Named Desire connection. Second, for the past couple weeks, I've been reading A Confederacy of Dunces, in which the main character lives in New Orleans, adores the philosopher Boethius, gets in arguments with nearly everyone he meets, and is occasionally confronted by mass transit bearing the word "Desire." And third, whenever I hear this word, I'm reminded of the fallacy in a logical argument where you try to trick someone by asking a complex question, the example for which is usually "When did you stop beating your wife?" 

Blafferty: Thanks for finding this discussion.

Bilby: When did you stop being insulted by Nobel laureates?   Jul 26, 2011

blafferty Fascinating conversation here.
I am adding this word to my bilby adventures list because of the lack of explanation, in hopes that he will return to the scene of the crime. Jul 26, 2011

bilby That would be telling. May 9, 2009

seanahan Bilby, how can you drop a comment like "insulted by Nobel laureates" and then not mention who? May 9, 2009

bilby *hugs chained_bear* May 8, 2009

yarb Gangerh - I'd always assumed exactly that - hence my astonishment at the very plausible explanation provided here by rolig. May 8, 2009

rolig C_b, I am really sorry to hear about your horrific experience. It is all too common. There was a time, and not very long ago, when the idea of husbands beating their wives provided a staple source of humor ("One of these days, Alice! Pow! Right to the moon!" says Ralph, as the audience explodes in laughter), but that was when the real violence was kept behind the closed doors women and children were always just happening to run into. Making light of such things, as in pseudo-clever slang terms for T-shirts and beer, is probably a way of distracting ourselves from the terrible reality. But I don't see how anyone with an awareness of the power of words can use such terms gleefully. May 8, 2009

plethora Moving slightly off-topic here; because it's far too late on Friday night for anything that requires thinking; bilby - you were insulted by a Nobel laureate?? May 8, 2009

gangerh Within the sound of Bow Bells, strifebeater, I guess. May 8, 2009

chained_bear Interesting, gangerh. The equivalent type of beer in the U.S. is probably Budweiser or Milwaukee's Best (a.k.a. "the Beast"), though that doesn't have the name connection to the Tennessee Williams play. Stella Artois here is considered something of a poncey (sp?) beer (it being "furrin" and all), so it's interesting the different connotation in the UK.

Being hit by your mate, particularly on a regular basis, particularly over the long term in which you turn into a robot, is a rather different experience than your most unfortunate ones, bilby. Especially if one has children. Sorry, I just don't see the connection. For one thing, though it was many years ago, I will never be able to laugh about my experience. I'll take any and every chance to denounce domestic violence and violence against women, and this word just isn't funny to me for that reason. That's not to say it isn't the source of interesting conversation, and like I said, my intention is not to stop the conversation. I'll just (hopefully gracefully) bow out of this one. May 8, 2009

gangerh These extracts are from Wikipedia:

In the UK, a lower ABV version is available called Stella Artois 4%. This variant was launched to compete alongside fellow Inbev lager Beck's Vier and to address negative associations of the brand;

During 2007, the "reassuringly expensive" slogan was dropped, and the word "Stella" has been avoided in the advertisements. This has been seen as a reaction to the lager's perceived connection with aggression and binge-drinking in the United Kingdom, where it is nicknamed "wife beater". May 8, 2009

gangerh I suspect that few people here in England know of the trail from Brando's undershirt, his screen wife's name and a pint or so of Artois.
The more likely understanding, I believe, lies in the alcoholic strength and the quaffableness of Stella Artois. While being a premium strength pilsner, it is at the same time as quickly drinkable as a milder strength session ale. Without realising, it's possible to get drunk more quickly and lose control and all the other things associated with drunkenness, including a capacity for arguing and fighting. And who's at home to take the brunt of it?
May 8, 2009

yarb I don't find this word funny or repugnant (I don't find any word in itself repugnant), but it is a pretty interesting word, because of the way it mediates pop culture to appropriate a horrible thing to a trivial end - and I adore the capacity language has for that kind of flimflammery. May 8, 2009

bilby Personally I've been shot at, mugged, robbed, bitten by poisonous animals and insulted by Nobel laureates. None of these experiences were particularly grand divertissement at the time, yet I find jokes about such events quite entertaining now. That's not to make light of c_b's experiences, about which she is of course entitled to her own feelings.

I think it's quite funny - and indeed in keeping with the incongruity fundamental to humour - that humans can attach such a loaded term as wifebeater to mundane items like an item of clothing and small beer. May 8, 2009

chained_bear I guess, having been abused, I don't feel comically distant from a person who beats women. *shrugs* ... Nor can I feel that such a person is anything less than a real monster.

I can see how Brando's character (actually Tennessee Williams's character) can be thought of as an extreme example—the acting style of the period does seem ludicrous nowadays and easy to laugh at—but that kind of behavior (including rape) is, in real life, so common as to be far from ludicrous.

But don't let me spoil anyone's fun. May 8, 2009

bilby The perception was that nerdy kids wore them, and hitched them up way high, and hence were in danger of being strangled by their own vestments. May 8, 2009

madmouth So....what's a Boston?

or is it merely what the BS wore himself? May 8, 2009

bilby Now that I think about it, white Y-front underpants were referred to, back in my school days, as Boston stranglers. May 8, 2009

bilby Budgie smugglers? May 8, 2009

madmouth For me, the comic element comes from the distance one feels from the creature 'wifebeater', an outlandish almost-monster. For one, it's been quite a few years since the Streetcar Named Desire era. Moreover, Brando's Stanley was so over the top, so bestial as to be ludicrous.

I have this itchy, elusive memory of another clothing word that contains gruesome social significance. help me out here. May 8, 2009

rolig I sympathize, Rt. Although I find the development of this word's use fascinating, and I am happy to find any reason to research pictures of the young Marlon Brando in a tight-fitting, torn, and rain-drenched T-shirt, I am disturbed by the commercial callousness of this word. I was shocked to find many websites where clothing companies were selling these tank tops as "wifebeaters", often with young female models sporting them with a smile. I find it hard to imagine a young woman saying, unwincingly, to another young woman, "I found a great wifebeater at Macy's today!" But I'm sure it happens all the time. Can you imagine, say, Ray-Ban selling a particlar style of sunglasses as "childmolesters"? "We offer you an extensive sellection of elegant childmolesters!" It's a sickening thought, but no more so than companies proudly selling "wifebeaters". May 8, 2009

gangerh Perhaps because it doesn't have a National Month, 'tee? May 7, 2009

reesetee Why am I not finding this page amusing? May 7, 2009

rolig So what does he wear when he beats her? (Sorry, gangerh, I couldn't resist.) May 7, 2009

gangerh I don't think Brando beats my wife in a wet t-shirt. May 7, 2009

chained_bear Thank you, rolig. I have always depended on the kindness of strangers. For beer, I mean.

I suspect it was called a wifebeater partly because some of the people who wear them with no shirt over them (they are, after all, underwear) look like thugs who might beat their wives...

I don't like thinking about this much. *goes back to thinking about Brando's muscles in a wet t-shirt* May 6, 2009

rolig Correction: Brando wasn't actually wearing a tank top in the movie. But it was a snug white T-shirt with very short sleeves that showed off his fit form and biceps. But Brando's look and performance, which completely redefined the notion of the male sex symbol, did wonders for the allure of the humble white undershirt (especially when it was torn and drenched as he wailed in the rain), and I expect it did influence the name of the tank top. May 6, 2009

rolig No need to bellow. Here you go. *hands C_b a beer* And come on in out of the rain, f'godsake. May 6, 2009

chained_bear *stands in rain* Stelllllllllaaaaaaaaaaa! May 6, 2009

bilby My informants were two girls from Bristol. They used it in a general sense, though the Stella connection is there. Yep, I like :-) May 6, 2009

gangerh gangerh likes this linking! May 6, 2009

dontcry Wow! Cool. I never knew that either. May 6, 2009

yarb Ha! That's excellent. I never knew. May 5, 2009

rolig A nice case of double metonymy: The white tank top worn by Marlon Brando as the violent Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire became so identified with Brando in this role that, in the US, it became known as a "wifebeater". Brando as Kowalski also became famous for crying, "Stella!" (his wife's name); hence the wifebeater tank top became connected with the name Stella, as in the beer. May 5, 2009

chained_bear I like Stella Artois! May 5, 2009

yarb Re: bilby's comment: in my experience this is slang specifically for Stella Artois, which is not cheap, and only arguably nasty, but is a fairly strong and gassy lager. May 5, 2009

john American slang - a white sleeveless undershirt. May 5, 2009

bilby British slang - cheap, nasty beer. May 5, 2009

gloriaha The garment. Dec 31, 2006