The gentle art of t-shirt wearing

was something I needed to consider yesterday. The t-shirt I was wearing caused a small problem...more of that in a moment.

The Senior Cat did not care for t-shirts. He claimed they were "difficult to get on and off" and "they look untidy". I went on buying him ordinary shirts with buttons...and ironing them. It was not really a problem. It is the sort of thing you do when you love someone.

Brother Cat does wear them "because you just need to pull them on"! I can remember the first t-shirt he ever owned. They were a relatively new item of clothing in our childhood. Until then we were dressed in shirts with buttons. Ours were made by our mother or our grandmothers. I suspect it was the same for most children, especially if you lived in a rural area where the clothes most people wore were made at home.  The t-shirt my brother wore was given to him by our maternal grandmother. She was quite excited by it. It had very fine stripes of many colours with borders of blue. This item was passed on to Middle Cat and then to the Black Cat. It was considered a little "special". 

Now Brother Cat, having retired and no longer needing to wear a suit to work, wears t-shirt and "sweatshirts" almost constantly. They are in varying states of comfortable disrepair as he "potters" in his workshop or mows the lawn. Middle Cat also wears them almost constantly. It depends on what she is doing whether she wears one with something like a glaring cartoon cat on the front or something a little more up-market...small flowers perhaps. I don't know what the Black Cat wears. The last time I saw her she was wearing a purple top of some sort of flimsy material.

And then there is me, Yours Truly. I prefer the "polo" variety because I do not like things to be tight around my neck, especially in summer. But I do have four t-shirts. They all have some special association for me. 

It is the t-shirt I was wearing yesterday which caused the issue. It is blue and printed on the front is the one-hand manual alphabet which is used by the deaf in some parts of the world. We use a two-hands alphabet here. The friend who gave me this shirt brought it back from Penang and it has caused a lot of comment. It has been useful in teaching other people about communication issues.

I was at the library and someone tapped me quite firmly on the shoulder. Naturally I assumed it was someone I knew so I turned around. No, a complete stranger. Embarrassment flooded his face and he backed off. He mouthed, "Sorry. I didn't know you were deaf." 

Oh, the t-shirt. "I'm not deaf. Did you want some help?"

"No...but why are you wearing that shirt if you aren't deaf? You shouldn't be wearing it.  It will give people the wrong idea."

No, it will give people the right idea. I stood there and I explained. His embarrassment grew but that sharp tap on the shoulder had annoyed me. I never did discover why he had done that or what he wanted but I hope I taught him something. 

I wonder what he would make of the t-shirt with "Shenanigans" on it?