# What do North Americans call those things that you use to fasten your shirt? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 5, 2009, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-north-americans-call-those-things-that-you-use-to-fasten-your-shirt/495475 "2009-05-05T23:44:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-north-americans-call-those-things-that-you-use-to-fasten-your-shirt/495475/121 "2009-05-11T19:36:32Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The real irony, in my experience, is that at my local grocery store, the real American cheese (the stuff you get from the deli counter in blocks) is actually cheaper than the individually-wrapped pseudo-cheese things. That’s a marketing ploy, is it not? Fixing a sack lunch for children at 6:00 AM is easier. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-north-americans-call-those-things-that-you-use-to-fasten-your-shirt/495475/122 "2009-05-11T19:37:56Z")
> [@Kal](#): > > A sweater vest sounds like it’s what we call a tank top in the UK and, IIRC, our vests would tend to be called tank tops in the US. No, no, no, it’s not just a knit like a t-shirt, it’s a knit like a sweater. You know, a “sweater vest”. Like, chunky. I just realized that, d’oh, you call sweaters jumpers. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-north-americans-call-those-things-that-you-use-to-fasten-your-shirt/495475/123 "2009-05-11T20:13:40Z")
> [@ruadh](#): > > Where I’m from (DC area) a tank top, as the sole garment, is normal summer wear. Not “low-class” unless maybe you’re in church or at a wedding. Also known as a “muscle shirt” when worn as the sole garment, unless it’s white and intended to be an undergarment, in which case it’s a “wife beater”. (Maybe it’s not low class relative to DC…;)) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-north-americans-call-those-things-that-you-use-to-fasten-your-shirt/495475/124 "2009-05-11T20:39:06Z")
Going back to buttons for a moment. I want to make some buttons of the garment-fastening variety - I’m pretty sure there must be a rotary cutting tool out there, available for this purpose, however, all of my searches for ‘button cutter’ and other such hopeful terms are confounded by results relating to (what I would call) badges. Is there such a thing as a button cutter - for making garment button blanks out of natural materials such as shell, bone, hardwood etc? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-north-americans-call-those-things-that-you-use-to-fasten-your-shirt/495475/125 "2009-05-11T20:56:05Z")
> [@ruadh](#): > > Where I’m from (DC area) a tank top, as the sole garment, is normal summer wear. Not “low-class” unless maybe you’re in church or at a wedding. > > I would never refer to an undershirt as a tank top. An undershirt is an undershirt. Well, there’s tank tops that are their own shirt [http://www.showyourlogo.com/custom-t-shirt/mens-tank-top.jpg](http://www.showyourlogo.com/custom-t-shirt/mens-tank-top.jpg) and tank top style undershirts: [http://z.about.com/d/mensfashion/1/5/l/9/CK365tank.jpg](http://z.about.com/d/mensfashion/1/5/l/9/CK365tank.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-north-americans-call-those-things-that-you-use-to-fasten-your-shirt/495475/126 "2009-05-11T21:02:00Z")
> [@sqweels](#): > > Also known as a “muscle shirt” when worn as the sole garment, unless it’s white and intended to be an undergarment, in which case it’s a “wife beater”. Wife beaters are ribbed. Non-ribbed white muscle shirts are just called white muscle shirts. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-north-americans-call-those-things-that-you-use-to-fasten-your-shirt/495475/127 "2009-05-11T23:57:14Z")
> [@](#): > > Is there such a thing as a button cutter - for making garment button blanks out of natural materials such as shell, bone, hardwood etc? You might try a hole saw (basically a cylindrical saw blade you use like a drill bit). Most of those will also leave a hole in the center of the circle, too, though, which you might not want. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-north-americans-call-those-things-that-you-use-to-fasten-your-shirt/495475/128 "2009-05-12T21:23:40Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > You might try a hole saw (basically a cylindrical saw blade you use like a drill bit). Most of those will also leave a hole in the center of the circle, too, though, which you might not want. Thanks - I’ve got a few of those, but I am looking to cut buttons without holes (at least not one big hole in the centre). it looks as though I’m going to have to use plug cutters in a drill press and clamp the workpiece firmly - I was hoping there would be a tool that cut out something a bit more shaped (in cross section) than a simple cylindrical blank, but maybe I have to do it in more than one operation [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-north-americans-call-those-things-that-you-use-to-fasten-your-shirt/495475.md?page=6)