[Ads-l] Fwd: A-shirt

[Robin Hamilton]

> From: Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at stanford.edu>

>> It is a sleeveless, buttonless shirt with shoulder straps that leave most of
>> the shoulders bare. Sometimes known as a "tank top" (a term that in my
>> experience refers only to women's clothing) or less politely "wife-beater".

In Scotland, this is called a "semmit" [in my idiolect, rhyming with "limit"],
as famously worn by Rab C. Nesbitt.

The Scottish National Dictionary has it going back to 1865.  I'd be inclined to
add "cotton" (as the commonest material, in my experience) to "wool or flannel"
in the definition below.

RH.

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SND:

SEMMIT, n. Also sem(m)et, se(a)mit, semmad (Cai.). A man's (or ‡woman's)
undershirt or vest, usu. of wool or flannel (m. and s.Sc. 1869 Athenaeum (13
March) 382, Dmf. 1899 Country Schoolmaster (Wallace) 352; Gall. 1904 E.D.D.).
Gen.Sc.[′sɛmɪt]

(Supplement)

SEMMIT, n. Add variants seemit, simmit
Add to defin.: Alter defin. to: A vest, orig.

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