What does this t-shirt say?

January 26, 2011 2:06 PM

What the heck does my son's shirt say?

My mother-in-law bought my toddler son a t-shirt. It's cute, but it drives me crazy because I think there's something written on it that I can't read. The guitars have letters printed inside of them. You can see close-ups of the top of the shirt design and the bottom. Can anyone read what it says? Or does it say nothing, and they just used random letters to make a parent-insanity-inducing design?

Thanks!

posted by christinetheslp to grab bag (30 answers total)

I see the letters but I vote for random design with no particular meaning.
posted by BlahLaLa at 2:10 PM on January 26, 2011

The top and bottom line both look like MOMMYS to me...
posted by disillusioned at 2:12 PM on January 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

The bottom line looks like it says "MOMMYS"
posted by jonesor at 2:13 PM on January 26, 2011

Mommys lil rocker?
posted by shelleycat at 2:15 PM on January 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

It sort of looks like "MOMMYS FRET" which would be a guitar joke? Where'd she get the shirt?
posted by Gator at 2:15 PM on January 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

She probably got it at Target. It's Utility brand. She shops at places like Target, Shop-Ko and K-Mart...never online.
posted by christinetheslp at 2:19 PM on January 26, 2011

+1 Mommy's Lil Rocker
posted by kdern at 2:19 PM on January 26, 2011

I like the idea of MOMMYS LIL ROCKER as suggested by shelleycat, however I can't get ROCKER to fit.

Going off of Gator's suggestion, perhaps MOMMYS LIL FRET? Because I can see where that would fit.

If nothing else, that deeply amuses me and someone should make a t-shirt with that saying anyway.
posted by paisley sheep at 2:24 PM on January 26, 2011

It's "MOMMYS REBEL."
posted by milk white peacock at 2:25 PM on January 26, 2011

i see mommys on the last line.
posted by nadawi at 2:25 PM on January 26, 2011

On further viewing, it looks like it could be both.

MOMMYS
LIL ROCKER
MOMMYS
LIL FRET

But after staring at it for awhile, I'm not sure what I see anymore.
posted by paisley sheep at 2:25 PM on January 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

Mommy's fretter?
posted by Quietgal at 2:26 PM on January 26, 2011

Yeah, I'm close but not quite there (rebel seems better). I do think it's real words.
posted by shelleycat at 2:26 PM on January 26, 2011

At first look it says "Bargain Bin" but I have to agree with seeing Rebel instead of Fret down there...
posted by thorny at 2:33 PM on January 26, 2011

Ok, I remove my previous suggestions, since I definitely now see REBEL.

But I still would like a shirt that says Mommy's Lil Fret.
posted by paisley sheep at 2:41 PM on January 26, 2011

MOMMY'S LITTLE HELPER?
posted by Joey Bagels at 2:42 PM on January 26, 2011

My best guess is:
MOMMY'S
LIL SHREDDER

And it's kind of repeated in some sort of mess. Now I'm annoyed by this, too.
posted by aganders3 at 2:44 PM on January 26, 2011

It definitely says "...RET" on the bottom, and almost definitely says "...CKER" on the top.

So MOMMYS {Li'l? F?}RET
and
{MOM}MYS L{i'l? RO}CKER

looks like paisley sheep has it.
posted by Sidhedevil at 2:49 PM on January 26, 2011

For some reason I keep seeing HAPPY MONDAYS, probably cuz of the font. Can't find an exact replica of the colors online tho.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 3:03 PM on January 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

I think it actually only has two lines that repeat:

MOMMY'S
LIL REBEL
MOMMY'S
LIL REBEL

etc?
posted by ORthey at 3:13 PM on January 26, 2011 [4 favorites]

I vote for a random design initially built on the words MOMMYS, ROCKER, and maybe FRET. I don't think it's intended to be read.
posted by ms.v. at 3:16 PM on January 26, 2011

who makes the shirt?
posted by parmanparman at 3:22 PM on January 26, 2011

Oh man, no, ORthey totally nailed it I think.

The last line is just MOMMYS, since it just repeats.
posted by disillusioned at 3:22 PM on January 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

I just spent way too long futzing with this thing in photoshop but didn't come away with anything that was slam-dunk clear.

It's definitely:

MOMMYS
[SOMETHING]
MOMMYS
[SOMETHING]
MOMMYS

No apostrophes.

And I think ROCKER and REBEL are both right, and, damnably, they're both right for both lines. If you look at the end of line two, you can see a strong vertical line in green (as if for an L, in REBEL) but a curve out beyond that in blue (as if for an R, in ROCKER). In line four, at the base of the guitar that makes up the third column, I'm seeing in blue an OCK and in green an EBE.

ROCKER is a slightly more condensed or kerned version of the font than REBEL, to manage to get both to start and stop in approximately the same spot.

I can't make anything at all out of the red in those ambiguous areas.

Note also that the leftmost column is clearly shifted significantly up and to the left of where it would be if it were cut out of the same pattern as the stuff in columns two through four. You can see the bottom-right of an O in the headstock at the top of the first column that should overlap with the same O in the body of the guitar at the top of the second column; likewise most of an L in the neck of the first column that lines up with a tip of an L in the leftmost tip of the guitar body in the second column. Ditto for rows four and five; row three is a horrid mess so no comment.
posted by cortex at 4:08 PM on January 26, 2011

Here's a different approach - googling "Mommy's Li'l Rebel" returns a lot of results, though none appear to be your shirt. But maybe it means it's, like, a thing?
posted by ORthey at 4:33 PM on January 26, 2011

I guess it could be "rebel"! It looks more like "...RET" to me than "...BEL", but those are pretty similar-looking.
posted by Sidhedevil at 5:13 PM on January 26, 2011

The good news is, since it's from Target, the odds of it being profanity are pretty darn small. I mean, anything can slip past a censor, I suppose, but Target seems to be pretty on top of that sort of thing.
posted by maryr at 5:22 PM on January 26, 2011

And I think ROCKER and REBEL are both right, and, damnably, they're both right for both lines.

Yeah, the visual pareidolia kicks in pretty fast. I reckon you kind of get one shot at looking at it to come up with an idea then it's too contaminated, which is why I gave up, heh.

It is a fun question though! I bet it can be figured out by getting enough fresh eyes on it to give ideas then pattern matching by everyone else to confirm.
posted by shelleycat at 6:45 PM on January 26, 2011

I am seeing "Mommy's Helper" - possibly. With the guitars and all could be a ref to The Stones' "Mother's Little Helper"?
posted by Decani at 9:53 AM on January 27, 2011

On closer inspection "Rebel" seems more likely.
posted by Decani at 9:59 AM on January 27, 2011