[normy]

They have been called wife beaters for years because the typical Hollywood wife beater has the tank top undershirt with the stain and the big gut. I call them that and so does everyone I know and we're all in our thirties.

I generally just call them beaters because its just short for wife beaters. Heck my wife and her friends call them wife beaters too, college educated thirty-something professional women.

[MilesVeritatis]

Yep, Hollywood...and TV. TV show "COPS" is full of domestic violence calls with someone wearing one of those.

[joebuck]

"They have been called wife beaters for years because the typical Hollywood wife beater has the tank top undershirt with the stain and the big gut. I call them that and so does everyone I know and we're all in our thirties."

And I think that comes from Marlin Brando playing Stanley Kowalski in Streetcar Named Desire. ("Steeeeellaaaaaa"). Stanley was a brutish thug and wore those shirts in that movie, esp. during the "Stella" scene. I bet that's where it comes from.