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You say tamate-taa, we say tomatoe...
A waistcoat is a waistcoat, is a waistcoat. That small sleeveless jacket that comes down to your waist that one wears beneath a full length conventional jacket. Tradition dictates that gentlemen wear it fully buttoned with the last button undone, in memory of King Edward VII.
Supposedly this practice began when the British king Edward VII grew too large a stomach to close the last button, and other gentlemen of his company slavishly followed the example, whether out of courtesy or because Edward was such a style setter they thought it an appealing touch. Whatever the impetus, the fashion caught on quickly, and leaving the bottom button idle is still considered de rigueur for fastidious dressers. In The Road To Wigan Pier (1937), George Orwell, rather sneeringly I'm afraid, reminded his readers of the English class-consciousness of such idiosyncrasies of dress: Comrade X, it so happens, is an old Etonian. He would be ready to die on the barricades, in theory anyway, but you notice that he still leaves his bottom waistcoat button undone!
A vest, as BT rightly point out, is an undergarment, just like underpants are undergarments. And you wear your vest underneath a conventional shirt to keep warm. Having said that, you do, on odd occasions, see rather uncouth fashion disasters of men, with pot bellies, sporting a stained and yellowing 'vest' that allows their rolled tummy to overflow like Angel Falls, over their equally stained and saggy denim jeans. It's also fashionable to accompany this look with a 5 o'clock shadow, a cigarette end hanging out of the side of one's mouth and having breath that makes the aroma of a badger's armpit decisively tasty!
The idea of a waistcoat being referred to as 'a vest' died out in the 18th Century, thank goodness!, if my mind serves me correctly!
How the two terms can ever be confused today, beggers belief.
A waistcoat is a waistcoat, is a waistcoat. That small sleeveless jacket that comes down to your waist that one wears beneath a full length conventional jacket. Tradition dictates that gentlemen wear it fully buttoned with the last button undone, in memory of King Edward VII.
Supposedly this practice began when the British king Edward VII grew too large a stomach to close the last button, and other gentlemen of his company slavishly followed the example, whether out of courtesy or because Edward was such a style setter they thought it an appealing touch. Whatever the impetus, the fashion caught on quickly, and leaving the bottom button idle is still considered de rigueur for fastidious dressers. In The Road To Wigan Pier (1937), George Orwell, rather sneeringly I'm afraid, reminded his readers of the English class-consciousness of such idiosyncrasies of dress: Comrade X, it so happens, is an old Etonian. He would be ready to die on the barricades, in theory anyway, but you notice that he still leaves his bottom waistcoat button undone!
A vest, as BT rightly point out, is an undergarment, just like underpants are undergarments. And you wear your vest underneath a conventional shirt to keep warm. Having said that, you do, on odd occasions, see rather uncouth fashion disasters of men, with pot bellies, sporting a stained and yellowing 'vest' that allows their rolled tummy to overflow like Angel Falls, over their equally stained and saggy denim jeans. It's also fashionable to accompany this look with a 5 o'clock shadow, a cigarette end hanging out of the side of one's mouth and having breath that makes the aroma of a badger's armpit decisively tasty!
The idea of a waistcoat being referred to as 'a vest' died out in the 18th Century, thank goodness!, if my mind serves me correctly!
How the two terms can ever be confused today, beggers belief.
Just as you Brits insist on calling French fries "Chips" 
