juddling Posted February 22, 2006 Share Posted February 22, 2006 BOSTON -- Building 19, a discount store known for its quirky sales circulars, described a package of sleeveless T-shirts as "wife-beaters" in a recent sales flier. NewsCenter 5's Kelley Tuthill reported Tuesday that even store officials admitted that the flier went too far. It upset advocates for domestic violence victims. "I can't say what I thought. I know what I thought, but I can't say out loud what I thought," Jane Doe Inc. spokeswoman Mary Lauby said. The flier advertised a three-pack of men's undershirts as "wife-beaters." "That does, you know, go to numbing and dumbing down and normalizing and suggesting that battering is a normal behavior," Lauby said. Building 19 spokesman Jerry Ellis took the criticism seriously. "They were right. It was awful and I am sorry it happened," Ellis said. E-mails came into the discount store's Hingham headquarters where everyone was apologetic. "It's a slang expression, a street expression, but we should have known better not to use it. I am supposed to read every word. Sometimes it's busy or I am lazy. We are working on a retraction," Ellis said. I know just as many women who use the term "wife-beaters" as men do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queen Prawn Posted February 22, 2006 Share Posted February 22, 2006 I had never heard that phrase until Brian and his buddy used it. It took me by surprise at first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LosMediasBlancas Posted February 22, 2006 Share Posted February 22, 2006 When I was a kid, we called that style of T-shirt something else. Any guesses? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted February 22, 2006 Share Posted February 22, 2006 QUOTE(LosMediasBlancas @ Feb 22, 2006 -> 02:27 PM) When I was a kid, we called that style of T-shirt something else. Any guesses? (Please excuse the slur here)... Dago-T. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Gleason Posted February 22, 2006 Share Posted February 22, 2006 QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Feb 22, 2006 -> 01:31 PM) (Please excuse the slur here)... Dago-T. That's what I had always called them. I never knew what "dago" meant either, until years later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldmember Posted February 22, 2006 Share Posted February 22, 2006 QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Feb 22, 2006 -> 01:35 PM) That's what I had always called them. I never knew what "dago" meant either, until years later. i've never heard the term. looked it up to see what it meant and found this. wikipedia has everything... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juddling Posted February 22, 2006 Author Share Posted February 22, 2006 (edited) QUOTE(Goldmember @ Feb 22, 2006 -> 08:17 PM) i've never heard the term. looked it up to see what it meant and found this. wikipedia has everything... With words like these.... Eh Hole (U.S. states bordering CAN) Canadians, in reference to how they say "eh?" and Cosby Kids (U.S.) a racist term for human feces that refers to the fictional Huxtable children. Common usage, as in "I've got to drop the Cosby Kids at the pool.", meaning use the toilet. and Cowboy (Europe) an American, often used by political cartoonists. (Not offensive to many Americans, reflecting European ignorance of American cultural norms). that could make things around here interesting. sidenote: Europeans actually think "Cowboy" is a ethnic slur???? Maybe if you're from Philly or Washington... Edited February 22, 2006 by juddling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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