gah… that’ll teach me to compose a post, get involved on a phone call, then submit before previewing and seeing that tremorviolet already said the same thing half an hour earlier.
Ah I didn’t know there was that big a distinction. He wears both of those, though.
I wear button down, open collar shirts all the time, and I coordinate the color of my slacks to my T shirt in the winter, and wife beater in the summer. No other reason.
I smell business opportunity: Inverse-wife-beaters that just cover the pits.
New Just-The-Pits from Hanes! …has a ring to it.
It doesn’t make a very professional impression if people can see to the contours of your chest, nipples, and abdomen through your white shirt (especially if you aren’t in very good shape). But wearing an undershirt that covers your pits can make you very hot because heat exchange is a secondary function of the armpit (major blood vessels running shallow to skin that has a lot of sweat glands). Obvious solution… sleeveless T-shirt. Since air conditioning is more common, these aren’t as common as they used to be… lots of people are just going for A-style undershirts.
[QUOTE=Brain Wreck]
It doesn’t make a very professional impression if people can see to the contours of your chest, nipples, and abdomen through your white shirt (especially if you aren’t in very good shape).
[QUOTE]
…and if you’re not wearing a necktie, it sometimes doesn’t look good to have the collar of the t-shirt showing beneat your dress shirt.
I’d say that it might depend on who’s hiring you. 
Umm… wait a second. Your post didn’t say ANYTHING about hiring people.
I guess I was thinking about how I’ve worn a little bear flag sticker to all of my recent interviews in order to (possibly) gain interest.
I just want to say this is the first time I have heard the term ‘wife beater’ to describe a type of sleeveless t-shirt. I’ve been around a while but ignorant of certain pop culture slang I guess.
Maybe the term is specific to the US. I don’t wear undershirts anyway.
I had never heard the term either until I saw it used here on the SDMB. They’re called singlets in Australia.
My sweat tends to accumulate around the middle or small of my back.
Thanks for sharing.
To add to what has been said already, in my lexicon, a muscle shirt has very large arm and neck holes, and the result is that more of the chest and sides of the abdomen are exposed. Indeed, a muscle shirt might have hardly any sides at all.
A singlet or a penny, to me is a type of athletic jersey, made from the same soft, stretchy material as jerseys, and is worn on the playing field in contrasting colours to indicate who is a member of what team. It is a very light garment and has no sleeves or even arm holes – it’s just a strip of cloth with a neck hole. Maybe the front and the back will be attached at the bottom (with ties or snaps) to prevent it from flapping around too much during vigorous play.
Oh, and a singlet is just as likely to be worn on top of an actual jersey as not.
Speaking of athletic wear, I recall an appearance by Patrick Stewart on the David Letterman Show – it’s more than 10 years ago, soon after Letterman left N.B.C. Letterman mentioned to Stewart that he had heard that Stewart is an avid soccer player and Stewart confirmed this, saying that he takes his “boots and strip” with him wherever he goes. Letterman expressed confusion at the terms and Stewart explained “jersey and shorts,” in that order, pointing, respectively, to his chest and lap. I always assumed that Stewart slightly misspoke and that “boots” actually refers to kleated shoes. I still haven’t figured out whether a “strip” is shorts or a jersey.
Both (plus socks). Strip = team uniform.
His point was the same as one I was going to make.
I’m not a profusive sweater. Where I do sweat is where my back contacts my chair and car seat.
A T-shirt would be much too hot for me to wear under a dress shirt. Hence, a wife-beater is a good solution.
That said, 99% of my wearing of a wife beater is for comfort around the house. I think a muscle shirt makes you look like a vain dick (like that Vin Diesel pic). I’m more comfortable and cool without any sleeves on my T-shirts.
Anyone who takes offense at my “dick” remark is free to criticize me for looking like a total rube in my wife-beaters. They are covered with food stains and holes, and my tan-lines are from biking t-shirts, so I have white shoulders and my tan starts half way down my biceps. I’m not sure what statement they make, but I know it isn’t “vanity”.