BVD

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BVD is also a name of a pathological condition in cattle (Bovine Virus Diarrhoea)

BVD is a brand of men's underwear, which are commonly referred to as "BVDs."

BVD stands for Bradley, Voorhees & Day, the New York City firm that initially manufactured underwear of this name for both men and women. It was founded in 1876 and named for its three founders.

BVD first manufactured bustles for women. They then became famous for their men's union suits made of heavy knitted fabric. In 1908, that bulky and tight fitting garment was turned into a new kind of loose fitting underwear. They went on to introduce a two-piece and the popular union suit.

They introduced a lightweight waffle-like fabric with the advertising slogan, "Next to Myself I Like BVD Best."

At the beginning of the 1930s BVD was purchased by the Atlas Underwear company located in Piqua, Ohio. During the Great Depression they were successful in manufacturing swimsuits for men, women and children. They patented their own fabric, Sea Satin, a Rayon woven satin backed with Lastex for stretch. They also used knits of cotton, wool and Rayon, and cellophane.Their swimsuits featured in major fashion magazines and high fashion stores. Styles included form fitting maillots as well as full skirted swimsuits. They offered suits for men with detachable tops. In 1929, Olympic swimmer Johnny Weissmuller, who went on to become the most famous Tarzan in motion pictures, was hired as a model and representative. He was featured at swim shows throughout the country wearing the BVD brand of swimsuits, handing out leaflets and giving autographs.

In 1951, the brand was purchased by Superior Mills. BVD was first to start packaging underwear in plastic bags for the mass market. In the 1960s and 1970s, they started introducing sportops, a pocket T-shirt, and fashionable underwear made of nylon.

In 1976, BVD was purchased by Fruit of the Loom, which brought the brand to a worldwide market. BVD now manufactures underwear only for men.

[edit] BVDs In Pop Culture

In the 1975 film Funny Lady, James Caan, starring as Billy Rose, protests against being measured for BVDs after his wife, Fanny Brice, played by Barbra Streisand, mocks his pajamas.

Tin Pan Alley songs occasionally referenced BVD underwear:

An evening spent with Hannah sittin' on your knees,
Is like drivin' through Alaska in your BVDs.

"Hard Hearted Hannah (The Vamp Of Savannah)"

by Milton Ager, Charles Bates, Bob Bigelow and Jack Yellen, published 1924.

This song was covered by Ray Charles.

An popular old Dixieland tune, 'Coney Island Washboard', about a lady making music on a washboard doing laundry.

"She could wear a tune right through the knees of a brand-new pair of BVDs"

Tom Lehrer referenced BVDs in his song "The Wild West is where I want to be".

Charlie McCarthy mentioned BVD's in his interpretation of Clement Moore's A Visit from St. Nicholas: "He flies through the air with the greatest of ease/The jolly old elf in the red BVD's."

The Beastie Boys also refer to BVDs in a song called "An Open Letter to NYC"

The L.I.E. the B.Q.E,
Hippies at the band shell with the L.S.D.
Get my BVD's from VIM,
You know I'm reppin' Manhattan the best I can.

2Pac mentions the brand in the track "Old School" from his album Me Against the World.

I had, shell toes, and BVDs
A killer crease inside my Lees when I hit the streets

In Full House, Becky briefly mentions BVD.

Come back here, you BVD boys.

In The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, Jazz makes a reference to the brand.

What's got your BVDs in a bunch?

In Blowe, KRS-One makes another reference to the brand.

Look at these weak MC's getting G's
Never wore BVD's or even bell bottom Lees.

In the C&C Music Factory track "Things That Make You Go Hmmmm...", BVDs are mentioned.

Ain't no way he could be cheatin' on me
I wonder who bought him those BVDs

In the track Graveyard Chamber from The Gravediggaz, Dreddy Krueger raps

"I been down since BVDs and dew rags shelltops and shags I was a little badass with regular and tre bags"

In the Tenacious D "Spiderman" song Jack Black Sings: "Spiderman Doesn't look right He Looks like Cheap Ass Spidey Wearing the Nike Shoes I can see the fucking BVD's"

In "St. Valentine's Day Massacre," Jason Robards (as Al Capone), jokingly tells an employee that he forgot to tell him where Bugsy Moran "gets his BVDs."

Jess Goldberg in Stone Butch Blues wears underwear which she refers to as BVD's.

In Sex and the City Sarah Jessica Parker (as Carrie Bradshaw) suggests that dancing with the men in the gay club was like being in a Calvin Klein ad and going back home to Aidan in his tighty whities was BVDs

BVD was a sponsor of New Japan Pro Wrestling for many years in Japan in the mid 1990's, as their logo was placed on the wrestling mat in the ring.

Mad Magazine used the name BVD to describe a section of one page features in a 1989 Super Special; BVD, however, stood for "Big Veeblefetzer Deal".

[edit] Other Languages

In Ecuadorian and Peruvian Spanish, the term bividí (pronounced like the English initials) is an eponym for a man's sleeveless underwear T-shirt.

In Dutch BVD (Binnenlandse Veiligheidsdienst, Domestic Security Service) was the old name of the AIVD (Algemene Inlichtingen- en Veiligheidsdienst), the General Intelligence and Security Service of the Netherlands.