The sleeveless undershirt has gone from trashy to trendy, but not everyone finds its new name funny, writes Booth Moore.
When a word or phrase that's been floating around in the culture finally lands in the Oxford English Dictionary, it has transcended the zeitgeist. Homer Simpson's exasperated "d'oh" made the cut last year. So did "retail therapy" and "boy band".
According to Jesse Sheidlower, North American editor of the dictionary, an unusual definition of the phrase "wife beater" is now a contender for lexicographic immortality.
The phrase no longer would strictly refer to a man who beats his wife; its definition would be expanded to mean a white, ribbed-cotton, sleeveless undershirt that is a wardrobe basic these days for movie costumers, rap stars and models.
In the popular imagination, the shirts are associated with the Stanley Kowalskis and Tony Sopranos of the world: anti-elitist, macho lugs who sit in front of the tube in their underwear and slap their wives around, hence (presumably) the name.
Although the style has been around for more than a century, in recent years there has been a boom. The shirts have shown up on bad boys Tommy Lee, Kid Rock and Snoop Dogg and on femme fashion plates Madonna, Britney Spears and Gwyneth Paltrow. Calvin Klein makes them. Even Chanel and Dolce & Gabbana have offered versions of the scoop-neck tops.
The desire to look trashy isn't hard to explain (they're sexy on the right body and showcase well-toned biceps). What's mysterious is how such a potentially offensive phrase managed to slip into the fashion lexicon so easily.
The undershirts are often referred to in music and film. Rapper Eve sings about how good she looks in her "wife beater with a bangin' tan". And in 8 Mile, Eminem mocks rival rapper Papa Doc for wearing one of the shirts, calling him "Snoop Dogg in a bra".
"Everyone wears them, especially hip-hop artists," said Susan Bauer, director of fashion programming at MTV. "But I was told by an executive not to use the word, so we just take off the 'wife' and call them 'beaters'."
Part of the appeal of the term may be its political incorrectness. James Doolin, of Dallas, sparked a media firestorm after launching a website that sells the shirts, embroidered with the words "wife beater".
The site (www.wife-beaters.com) has a "Wife Beater Hall of Fame", with photos of Ike Turner, John Wayne Bobbitt, Mike Tyson and others, and it offers a discount to customers who can prove a domestic violence conviction. The discount, says Doolin, is a joke, but he defends his business concept, saying that the term has transcended its literal meaning to become a symbol for all rebellious, antisocial behaviour.
But not everybody is laughing. Karin Willison, a psychology student from Los Angeles, has a counter website (www.outspokenclothing.com) that sells T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan "wife-beater beater" and a drawing of a woman punching a man.
"It's intended to be humorous," she said. "I don't advocate violence either way, but if people are buying shirts that say 'wife beater', women are going to fight back."
Sheidlower, who says "wife beater" will probably soon be in the dictionary's online edition (www.oed.com), says fuss over the phrase is media-made: "People who use this word are not using it to put anyone down."
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