Regional Dialect Question

[Bethers]

Dago T's - is what I knew them by - course, I also was from the Chicago area. And for those of you who don't know - ONLY that undershirt was/is called a Dago T. I was married to an Italian - only type of undershirt he owned.

I hate the term wife beaters ... dang ...that sux.

[mtngal]

Wow, interesting answers. In my sheltered experience, they are tank tops. (And Dago was/is a slur).

[BarbaraRose]

Muscle shirt around here. "Wife beater" is just disturbing

[cpatinjones]

I always called them undershirts.

The first time someone refrerred to it as "wife beaters", I was stunned.

Now, another name "Dago-Tees".

Interesting.

[mitch5252]

..
Think Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire...



When I was growing up (NOT when I was little), this was the Dago-T (or Cicero-T, named for the Chicago suburb of Cicero); the regular sleeved t-shirt was an undershirt; and the mesh thing was the muscle shirt.

I never heard the term wife-beater until just a couple of years ago (less than 5).
..

[MelissaD]

As I travel around the US I've heard a couple of others.

Bubbler is a water fountain like you drink from in the hallway.

Berm or edge of the road we called the ditch.

"Booking" meant you were going fast.

I don't notice them as much these days. Probably due to TV, the internet and people tend to travel more. I have met a couple of people that have never been more than 50-100 miles from their birth place and they were in their late 50's early 60's. I found that rather odd. By the time I left high school I'd already been in every state east of the Mississippi, Eastern Canada and Colorado (by plane, kind of hopped over NE and IA )

[Phoenix]

undershirt

[IrishIroamed]

Dago T's in IL

Berm or edge of the road we called the ditch.

Berms in IL go up (little hill) not down (ditch).

[Excel]

Interesting comments... so I'll add mine... I am from Cicero (Illinois) & grew up in a very mixed neighborhood.... Had many Dago friends (& they didn't consider that name a 'slur')... nor did Polish families get offended by being called Pollocks, but of course that was many years ago (in the 50's & 60's)... Yes, I've been around a long time now... However, back to the shirts.... my Dad wore those kinds & they were just called undershirts back then... I have pictures of him when he was involved with the CCC's & helped build roads, camping ground areas & fought forest fires all along the west coast from Oregon down to California. Those were the kind of shirts the men wore in all the pictures I have of him & his buddies... He led an interesting life though a hard one. To get back home to Chicago area from the West Coast he 'rode the rails'... many a great story there... He also worked on the Hoover Dam as a 'Powder Monkey'.... he set up & set off the TNT they used to blast the mountains... many a sad story there that was never told to the public... Anyhow, just thought I'd share a little history from my family.

[Bethers]

Dago T's in IL

Berm or edge of the road we called the ditch.

Berms in IL go up (little hill) not down (ditch).

Yep on berm - it's a barrier - while the ditch goes down. But there can be a berm IN a ditch lolol

Excel - love your story (ies).