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.

I had never heard that phrase until Brian and his buddy used it. It took me by surprise at first.

When I was a kid, we called that style of T-shirt something else. Any guesses?

When I was a kid, we called that style of T-shirt something else.  Any guesses?

 

(Please excuse the slur here)... Dago-T.

(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.

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...

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, 200620 yr by juddling