The spectacular rise of t-shirt is now well acknowledged and this rapid growth was due the Navy which started the landslide by the issue of a 'T' shaped, short sleeved undergarment without collars for the use of its sailors. Subsequently when the icons of the film industry, icons like Marlon Brando and James Dean showed up on the silver screen clad in these shirts, the attractiveness of these shirts skyrocketed and just about every one wanted to be seen in them. In today's slang, they were considered to be cool! Its popularity soared in leaps and bounds aided by the progress in the quality of the fabric used in their manufacture and in the advances in the printing techniques involved.

Funny t-shirts can poke fun at just about anything and anybody. They can be nonsensical, border on the ridiculous and even funnily offend.

In the political arena, these t-shirts are used to put across a political point or ridicule one, be supportive of a candidate or be mean to another. History tells us that during his 1948 Presidential crusade, the then Governor of New Your, Thomas E. Dewey used one such t-shirt with the message "Dew-IT with Dewey" printed on it.

There isn't a subject on earth that has not appeared on the t-shirt in some funny form or another. Everyone and everything has been ridiculed. Americans, Britishers, Canadians, politicians, lawyers, girls, boys, dogs, cats, games and even human attitudes; just mention a subject and one is sure to find some funny t-shirt in some nook or corner sporting something hilarious on it. If it so happens that someone has a whacky phrase of his own and wants the society to know about, all that they have to do is to log on to the Internet, submit it to a website that specializes in making customized t-shirts, and Lo and Behold, it is delivered at their doorstep. It has become such a nationwide phenomenon that small children and senior citizens can be seen wearing them.

The invention of more robust and stretchable printing inks have made possible the countless uses of psychedelic graphics and colors of various hues. Computers have made possible the creation of intricate patterns and fantastic and convoluted fonts. Combined with word play, the funny t-shirt has become a resourceful means of expression. The stuff that appear on these funny t-shirts can double up a person with laughter or might leave one dazed enough to stand and gawk at what is inscribed in the front. The back of the t-shirt is also used to throw you off track.

In a marked opposition to what the people who are looking at the funny t-shirt may think, the wearer of the shirt might even be trying to tell the world what they really are and what they actually think. They can be, in their funny way, used to as a propaganda of the self, and; without prejudice, there probably is a t-shirt with something hilarious on it tailor-made out there just for you.

There is a fair possibility that the wearer of the t-shirt might also be sending out a warning signal in a subtle, roundabout funny way. A teenager may be indirectly venting his anger by sporting an offensive and funny t-shirt. But one also has to be careful when wearing such a shirt. In these days when words and phrases can have double meanings, simple innocuous words may mean something totally different to some other person.

Another possibility is that an offensively funny t-shirt might just be the intention of the wearer to communicate his or her displeasure against an individual or a concept; the degree of the offensiveness emphasizing the extent of his antagonism. In these days of double speak, care has to be taken on what one is sporting. Some simple phrase to one may be quite offensive to another. The best bet may be one with the words "I've Nothing To Say" on it.