Singlet common?

[emcee]

Why isn't singlet a common word?

Cheers in advance
emcee

[Binkie]

I wondered that too, emcee. I thought it was a word that everyone would use frequently. (unless they use the word "vest" instead !)

[biggerbirdbrain]

Here in the US, it's generally a vest. Nobody says singlet here -- I only learned it from Victorian lit.

[emcee]

that would explain it, because here in Australia a singlet (especially a blue one) is almost the national uniform.

[birdy]

Maybe the problem is that we're not wrestlers, Threeb - when I googled the word, most of the pictures and ads were for athletic attire.  I don't need to wear a singlet when I climb my stairs - my only athletic endeavor.

But I do know the word, though it's not in my everyday vocabulary.  But neither are most other sports terms.

[biggerbirdbrain]

So,, do ballerinas wear singlets with frilly skirts?  Wrestlers might be shocked by the analogy!

[birdy]

I'm sure the wrestlers would be happy to invite the ballerinas to engage in their sport - or the ballerinas might be able to give the wrestlers a few pointes!

By the way, don't we usually use the term "tank top" for singlet, as least as far as outerwear is concerned?

[biggerbirdbrain]

I do believe so, birdy. I just don't hear women asking, "Oh, by the way, that singlet really matches your shoes!" Or, "Could I please borrow your singlet for my date?"

[birdy]

Right!  And I don't remember people saying "vest" - though I've read it as a sort of very old-fashioned term.  For me, a vest is a thing you wear over a shirt and possibly under a jacket, though I have seen some very appealing pictures of bare-chested guys in vests without a shirt.

[biggerbirdbrain]

I will confess, I have a closetful of vests that I find very useful to dress up an ordinary top, even with jeans. They're also quite handy when it gets a bit cool, but not enough for a sweater or a jacket. I'm afraid they're common in my world.

[birdy]

I have some too - even a down one for winter birding.  In fact, one of the only 3 things I ever knit was a vest - in fisherman pattern - no sense being timid when starting a new hobby - jump right in and do something difficult!  (This may also explain why I never knit more than three things.)

But the vests I have are mostly open in the front like sleeveless cardigans rather than pullovers.

[Binkie]

The vests you describe are what I would call waistcoats ! For me, a vest (or singlet) is a piece of underwear, and a waistcoat is outerwear.

[biggerbirdbrain]

Isn't a tight-fitting waistcoat also called a doublet? Renaissance-style?

[Binkie]

I don't think they're ever called doublets these days, Threeb.  For some reason, whenever I think of Elizabethan dress, I think of doublet and hose together.  I guess that's because you'd have had to be a very daring male to appear in only a doublet !

[Binkie]

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