Reply #22: I never cared for that.

[H2O Man]

The type of shirt reminds me of two relatives, one on each side of my family. The first was my great uncle. He was what the Irish called a "boomer," meaning he followed the excitement of the railroads going west. (He was born in the late 1800s, so it wasn't the "iron horse" phase of railroads.) He was also a professional boxer of some note in that era. He wore the type of shirt you mention, without anything heavier, every day, summer through winter.

Another uncle, who married my mother's sister, worked construction. He was one of the men who had no fear of heights. (His father, a Native American, had lived in a "sod house" like those mentioned in "Little House on the Prarie.") Last year, on one of the most bone-chilling days of the winter, I saw him walking on the main street of a small village, wearing that type of shirt.

I only know my great uncle from the stories I've heard about him. My father thought the world of him, and today I am in close contact with two of his sons. But I can say that my uncle is one of the strongest, gentlest people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.