The theme at Velvet Ashes (one of my favorite websites) this week is a fun one—top ten lists. I I decided to stick with something lighthearted: unexpected t-shirts. Since summer started, I’ve observed more and more people wearing t-shirts. Except for company t-shirts, almost all t-shirts are in English, not in Chinese. In fact, I was with some friends recently, and we all noticed someone wearing a t-shirt that was actually in Chinese! The thing is, I don’t think people always read or understand what they are wearing, which sometimes leads me to do a double take. There may also be a differing cultural expectations of the relationship between you and your t-shirt. Americans wear t-shirts to make a statement they agree with or champion a cause or celebrate an event they were involved with. I don’t think that’s the expectation here. A friend told me I should start a tumblr devoted to such t-shirts but that would require taking photos of them, which is usually not possible. Disclaimer: If strong language easily offends you, you may not want to continue because I see a surprising amount of swearing on t-shirts.
The 10 Ten Unexpected Things I’ve Seen on T-Shirts (to this point):
Honorable Mention: “Butter”
10. “God Save the King” (not sure who this is referring to)
9. “Pervert” with a large 17 underneath it
8. “You’re Not Beautiful”
7. “MDIV” (I actually saw this on a baseball cap, but friends have seen it on t-shirts, and none of us know what it means in this context)
6. “HI BABY. DO YOU LIKE MY SUNGLASSES LETS ENJOY THE SUN” (someone I know was wearing this one, and it made me sad because he is way too nice to be wearing a t-shirt that is essentially a bad pick-up line)
5. “Beloved, Kiss Me Like You Mean It” (worn by a ~50 year old woman, in church)
4. “Swagger Every D*mn Day”
3. “Calvin College” (it looked like a real Calvin shirt and a woman walking near my house was wearing it; I wish I had stopped her and asked where she got it, but I wasn’t brave enough)
2. “F**K” with a red heart next to it (um….)
1. “F**K SCHOOL” (I saw these last two on back to back days)
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