British Dopers: re Torches

[Acsenray]

@AWB

Quite a few terms, depending on the shape:
[ul]
[li]if it has sleeves, it’s called a T-shirt or undershirt. The former is also used for uncollared shirts with artwork or text on them, worn as outer shirts.[/li][li]if it has no sleeves, but it looks like it had had sleeves, it’s called a sleeveless T. This of course makes no sense, because without sleeves, it’s not T-shaped at all.[/li][li]if it has narrow straps at the shoulders, it’s also an undershirt, or sometimes an A-shirt. A slang name is “wife beater”, because of the stereotypical image of lower-class slobs who wear them as a main shirt and are assumed to be spousal abusers.[/li][/ul]

The first and third are both also called undershirts.

The second one – I haven’t seen this sold or worn as an undershirt. They’re usually worn in the gym or on the beach and are usually called “muscle shirts.”

@amanset

To be honest, people wear T-shirts under shirts in the UK and still call them T-shirts. That’s because they are T-shirts that you could happily wear with nothing over them outside of the home. A vest is a more specific form of light undergarment. Usually sleeveless, I’d guess, but probably closer to what AWB described as an A-Shirt.

The T-shirts sold as short-sleeve undershirts are not the same type/weight of cloth as the T-shirts sold as outerwear. And they’re almost always white. Sometimes people do wear an undershirt and nothing else (either the T-shirt/short-sleeve or the wife-beater variety) but it’s pretty obvious to the viewer that it’s meant to be worn as an undershirt.