History of the Modern T-shirt

A modern t-shirt usually has no buttons, collars or pockets. It can be made of cotton or polyester or a blend. The t-shirt has round neck and sleeve holes and currently may be decorated with text and graphics, sometimes funny.
But, the t-shirt has not always been this way, oh no. The t-shirt has a long and proud history beginning with the ancient Egyptians who wore formal undergarments while they were erecting the pyramids in 120-degree desert heat.
Some historians theorize that the pyramids were actually supposed to be large cubes, but since each crew was exhausted from wearing t-shirts underneath their garment in the high desert heat, that subsequent crews did less and less work. This desire to do less and hurry the finality of the project lead the crew leader on day to simply put a point on top of the cube-turned-pyramid and inform the high priests and priestesses that there had been a cost overruns and a “change in plans”.
Be that as it may, t-shirts again reared their ugly heads in the 19th century, once again as formal undergarments in Britain. The Brits and their famous eye for prudence started requiring school age boys to wear t-shirts and tuck them in over their underwear but inside their pants in order to foil the bullies’ attempts at giving atomic wedgies.
The bullies were not foiled however, and just grabbed t-shirts and underpants in two motions instead of one and proceeded to give atomic wedgies as before. Some schoolchildren then used flatulence as a defense mechanism to deter the bullies, but this is for another discussion altogether.
T-shirts became popular again with the advent of World War II. Military types such as sailors began wearing these undergarments to work in and when overheated would throw off the shirts atop and work in t-shirts only.
Some early videos posted on Youtube show sailors in the 1940’s performing their duties in t-shirts aboard huge warships and occasionally breaking out in song and dance particularly to “Y-M-C-A” by the Village People. Calisthenics were performed on board these large aircraft carriers to keep the men in shape and even Richard Simmons’ father, Gene would lead the jumping jacks in his t-shirt.
In the 1960’s Forrest “Running Man” Gump heralded in a new era of decorated t-shirts. When he was once again rejected by Jenny, he took to running cross country and wiped his muddy face on what would become the first Happy Face t-shirt. Gump also told another runner that “stuff happens” or some similar vulgar verbiage and this became a national motto in no time, decorating t-shirts from coast to coast.
Since this time, t-shirts have been a method of self-expression for millions of people. First worn as a means of political commentary, it didn’t take long before the commentary turned humorous and then people started wearing all sorts of funny t-shirts to express their inner goofballs to the world.
So, there you have it, a twisted history of the modern t-shirt. Though this may be a fractured fairytale of what really happened, the essence is in fact accurate. No go out and buy a t-shirt to express your inner goofball.
© 2007 All Rights Reserved. Kevin Blevin writes about funny t-shirts and all sorts of other humorous subjects including 10 ways to decorate the human body using Cheetos.