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I never use the term myself, it's offensive. The term was simply in memory from movie trivia. It will probably fade into history, that's my guess.

If a person simply said undershirt, others would think either of this shirt, or the T-shirt, (or both).
From Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeveless_shirt and...

Wife-beater: this dates from the movie with Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh, 'A Streetcar Named Desire', 1951. Stan (Brando), a violent character, wears this type of undershirt. And so it became...