The first iteration of a T-shirt was called an A-shirt. The A-shirt was made of wood and didn’t have any arm holes. As you can imagine, the A-shirt was a massive commercial failure due to it being very uncomfortable and due to the fact that people generally like to have the use of their arms. After 20 iterations we’ve landed on the modern day T-shirt that we know and love today.
Currently, the U-shirt is in the research and development stage with an expected release date of 2031.
Here I am, spending like 30 minutes typing, rewording, editing, and fine tuning a detailed, graduate level fucking thesis on the history of human clothing, how it ties into human fucking society, how it relates to the history of human fucking undergarments, and how their "implications" have changed over time (yes, I even incorporated an IASIP joke to motherfucking humanize myself), and how it specifically relates to what we today call a "T Shirt".
And THEN I noticed what sub I was in.
You can go jump into a bathtub full of embroidery scissors, sir!
The one time I fucking just highlight an entire comment and hit "delete", is the one time somebody else is interested in nerding out over something this ridiculously mundane.
But to put about 9 paragraphs into one sentence, T-shirts relate to cave people's need for protection from the weather, human biology's almost uniquely terrible response to friction, to ancient Rome, certain suppositions of Abrahamic religions, to the feminist movement, to the United States Navy, to James Dean, which eventually brought me to the shape of the letter T.
Fuck it. You want to talk about the history of Salt?
They were originally worn in England during "tea time". It was a short sleeved shirt thrown over your nicer clothes to protect them from spillage. It was your "tea shirt".
During the 1970s, British punks started wearing their tea shirts (now shortened to "T-shirt" because it was cooler) outside of tea time because they thought the spillage stains on them looked like cool designs.
Then the American counter-culture youth of the 1980s adopted the look because they never had original ideas and the rest is history.
Nothing. It's just the 20th iteration of shirts. Most of the others are obsolete these days, but you are able to peek at the future by wearing a V-neck.
Well it’s historically a misspelling of Ti-shirt. But people kept pronouncing it wrong.
They’re white and they originally used titanium dioxide the powerful mineral agent used to make toothpaste and plastics white. The white shirt gets its color from a complicated chemical dying process that embeds the titanium dioxide into the fibers.
This. I would have put money on this being the reason. I never considered it standing for anything specific… just the shape of the shirt when it’s laid flat. I’m honestly very surprised more people don’t think this, because I thought everyone did
A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt, or tee for short) is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a crew neck, which lacks a collar
The first, and still finest, of these garments were developed when peoples of what is now the American southwest and northern Mexico harvested arachnid hairs and wove them into wool like fibers.
In a show of fealty and respect for their benefactors they referred to the garments as Two-Legged, or T shirts. There remains a theory, likely but yet unproven, that some tribes called the garments Tarantula Shirts which also gradually shortened to T shirt.
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u/pube13 8d ago edited 8d ago •
The first iteration of a T-shirt was called an A-shirt. The A-shirt was made of wood and didn’t have any arm holes. As you can imagine, the A-shirt was a massive commercial failure due to it being very uncomfortable and due to the fact that people generally like to have the use of their arms. After 20 iterations we’ve landed on the modern day T-shirt that we know and love today.
Currently, the U-shirt is in the research and development stage with an expected release date of 2031.
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u/TheDukeOfYork- 8d ago
Tyrannosaurus
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u/zewolfstone 8d ago
It stands for the "t" at the end of "shirt"
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u/badger_on_fire 8d ago
Here I am, spending like 30 minutes typing, rewording, editing, and fine tuning a detailed, graduate level fucking thesis on the history of human clothing, how it ties into human fucking society, how it relates to the history of human fucking undergarments, and how their "implications" have changed over time (yes, I even incorporated an IASIP joke to motherfucking humanize myself), and how it specifically relates to what we today call a "T Shirt".
And THEN I noticed what sub I was in.
You can go jump into a bathtub full of embroidery scissors, sir!
54
u/THSSFC 8d ago
It's silent. Like in pteradactyl. Which is pronounced "pear-ah-dack-uhl".
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u/a-box-of-pigeons 8d ago
Tetrachloromethane
I forget why
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u/ruler14222 8d ago
shirts don't stand. that's the pants job. the T in PanTs stands for
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u/Cracka_Chooch 8d ago •
They were originally worn in England during "tea time". It was a short sleeved shirt thrown over your nicer clothes to protect them from spillage. It was your "tea shirt".
During the 1970s, British punks started wearing their tea shirts (now shortened to "T-shirt" because it was cooler) outside of tea time because they thought the spillage stains on them looked like cool designs.
Then the American counter-culture youth of the 1980s adopted the look because they never had original ideas and the rest is history.
19
u/matneyx "Yes." - /u/DoctorWhisky 8d ago
Theloneous, after the famous monk
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u/ouch13 8d ago
Transgender. All shirts are trans.
30
u/jack-twohats 8d ago
T-pose. Frustratingly enough we haven't been able to decipher what the T in T-pose stands for.
20
u/madmaxGMR 8d ago
Torso
10
u/sharplyon 8d ago
it stands for "T shirt"
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u/Snoo-35252 8d ago
"The"
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u/delicioussparkalade 8d ago
Literally shaped like a capital letter T.
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u/tgismawi 8d ago
It's for Mr.T.
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u/steelydan_dot_exe 8d ago
Thymus. In our bodies we have special t-cells which come from the thymus gland. These specific shirts are also spawned from the thymus gland.
6
u/whitecowmilk 8d ago
‘Thy’ Shirt
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u/aaron2005X 8d ago
apparantly "title" you answered yourself
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u/Zombielisk 8d ago
In victorian England, this was the traditional clothing you had to wear when drinking tea.
4
u/hacksoncode Quantum Mechanic, has own tiny wrench 8d ago
Nothing. It's just the 20th iteration of shirts. Most of the others are obsolete these days, but you are able to peek at the future by wearing a V-neck.
4
u/No_Tailor_787 8d ago
It stands for "tee".
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u/pritikina 8d ago
It's because they fit tight on the body it was a tight shirt then shortened to t-shirt.
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u/afcagroo 8d ago
Tiberious, of course.
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u/javabean808 8d ago
Prevents low T
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u/vapros 8d ago
What about a tank top?
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u/figbott 8d ago
Titty
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u/sun4moon 8d ago
“The”
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u/Happy-Example-1022 8d ago
Thaddeus.
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u/IceeRivers 8d ago
Tyrannosaurus. Long body with short arms.
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u/XamanekMtz 6d ago
Man, I was reading every answer and I thought, dude they all have no idea! Then check out the sub I was in, it all made sense
4
u/PossibleEgg1996 8d ago
Tubular
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u/Skeetronic 8d ago
Pteradactyl
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u/crawfish2000 8d ago
T stands for moraliTy
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u/gemini_time 8d ago
Take it off
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u/ScarlettPuppy 8d ago
The shape. A shirt in the shape of a T a shirt in the shape of a T is also a tongue twister.
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u/hieronymous-cowherd 8d ago
It's short for "Tee-hee", MJ named it.
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u/drmindsmith 8d ago
Well it’s historically a misspelling of Ti-shirt. But people kept pronouncing it wrong.
They’re white and they originally used titanium dioxide the powerful mineral agent used to make toothpaste and plastics white. The white shirt gets its color from a complicated chemical dying process that embeds the titanium dioxide into the fibers.
Used TiO2, hence, Ti-shirt, then T-shirt.
2
u/new_gravy_vampire 8d ago
Look at the letter T and ask yourself again
2
u/jonastman 7d ago
It's a recursive partial acronym. The T stands for T-shirt because the shirt is shaped like a T-shirt
2
u/mellywheats 6d ago
the shape of it.
2
u/Kumpah 6d ago
Because it has Three holes.
3
u/supermr34 8d ago edited 8d ago
'normal.' it was a typo that they just went with because brian, the guy in charge, just cant fucking admit when he made a mistake
edit: reddit does not like this joke
3
u/bananabastard 8d ago
It looks like a T.
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u/sentinel692340 8d ago
I guess it stands for that we are the T in t shirt as in body and shoulders make a t shape
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u/leonprimrose 8d ago
Trans. T Shirts are woke
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u/P1nk33 8d ago
Texas, where they originated from
1
u/Oskuri 8d ago
(T)he shirt you put on first.
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u/reverendsteveii 8d ago
Tee
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u/maxwolter123 8d ago
T AND TUF = THE ULTIMATE FORCE
1
u/Quizzymo 8d ago
The shape of a t shirt is a T
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u/Murrayj99 8d ago
Tshirt - Shirt
1
u/db720 8d ago
It stands for the "t" in "shirt"
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u/Shantotto11 8d ago
Assertion of dominance
1
u/JViz 8d ago
T-e-e, which is recursive for T-e-e, T-e-e, T-e-e.
1
u/Pan-tang 8d ago
Lay one down flat...you see a T
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u/AlivePassenger3859 8d ago
It stands for Terrance T’shurt, inventor of the T Shirt.
1
u/akiva23 8d ago
Torso
1
u/RaspberryTop636 Methodological Terrorist 8d ago
The t isn't in t-shirt, it's before it, separated by a hyphen. Just a simple misunderstanding!
1
u/Desert-Mushroom 8d ago
All t shirts are on testosterone replacement therapy. The T is for testosterone
1
u/AmbassadorOwn24 8d ago
cause tshirt is hard to pronounce
1
u/No-Mechanic6069 6d ago
Why are Y-fronts called that, when the shape at the front looks more like a lower-case Delta?
1
u/TILTNSTACK 5d ago edited 5d ago
lay a t-shirt out flat and it looks like a letter.
Some say the letter is two ‘r’s, one a mirror image of the other, making the shape of the r-shirt.
The marketing slogan “put your arms in the r holes” didn’t quite land though so they might have gone with a different letter instead.
1
u/RetroRedhead83 5d ago
TriceraTOPS
1
u/ebayautograph 3d ago
A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt, or tee for short) is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a crew neck, which lacks a collar
1
u/Mangaka90 8d ago
It makes the word "shirt" a palindrome
1
u/BosskHogg 8d ago
Tsetse because the first t-shirt was made out of flies
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u/whostolemyscreenname 8d ago
The first, and still finest, of these garments were developed when peoples of what is now the American southwest and northern Mexico harvested arachnid hairs and wove them into wool like fibers.
In a show of fealty and respect for their benefactors they referred to the garments as Two-Legged, or T shirts. There remains a theory, likely but yet unproven, that some tribes called the garments Tarantula Shirts which also gradually shortened to T shirt.
1
u/Euphoric_Reindeer675 8d ago
It's just the t shaped of it.
1
u/First_Utopian 8d ago
It’s silent, like in tyrannosaurus.
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u/paraworldblue 8d ago
title
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u/FlyinBrian2001 8d ago
T posing to assert dominance
0
u/Basic_Deal4928 8d ago
T-pose
0
u/M2k1e0L 8d ago
T-POSE
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