You know those cheap plastic sandals you can buy just about anywhere? Now they are mostly called flip-flops, because that is the sound they make when you walk. They have no way to attach them to your heel, and only one thong like piece of plastic holds your toes in the shoe.
Do you know the type of shoe I mean?
Many years ago they were not called Flip-flops. They were called Thong Sandals, after that little thong of plastic.
A few weeks ago my sweet 65 year old mother was at Walgreens. My 14 year old nephew was helping her shop. He was about half an aisle away, looking at something else, when my mother called out...
"Hey Nick, help me find some thongs."
My nephew did not picture sandals. His mind brought up the image of his sweet overweight grandmother and an entirely different type of thong apparel.
They expect 5 years of intense therapy before he is well.
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
They still call them thongs in other countries. Australia, I want to say, among them.
So I've actually seen that exact same thing happen.
Posted by Mr.Funny (Member # 4467) on :
I grew up calling them slippers because my mother grew up in Hawaii. My friends always give me funny looks when I refer to them as such.
Posted by Jhai (Member # 5633) on :
They call them slippers in India, and "regular" sandals - sporty type ones - are called floaters.
Posted by Jeesh (Member # 9163) on :
My mom calls them thongs too. I wore my flip-flops and she said "Nice thongs" I just stared at her until she explained that my flip-flops were calls thongs.
Posted by Gwen (Member # 9551) on :
I've heard them called either one. On a similar note, someone wrote in to Reader's Digest about when she and her daughter were going over the college dress code that the daughter was going to. The woman read the part banning thongs on campus, and wondered aloud, "How would they know?"
Posted by lem (Member # 6914) on :
I am reading a computer security book. I am in a chapter that talks about the need to train staff on how to discern reports that the computer prints out.
The (true) story went like this: A company relied on data that could not be re-created. The IT people wrote a shell script to back up the data each early morning. Operators were told to insert a tape at midnight and check at 3:00am to make sure a piece of paper printed out signaling the end of the job.
After 2 years the system crashed. When the IT person got the tape, it was two years old. He confronted the operator who said she faithfully checked each morning to make sure the back up job completed. She even kept every slip of printed paper--she was a very detailed oriented.
When the IT person looked at the stack of paper every page, of two years worth of back-ups, said the exact same thing:
Tape in drive is write protected.
OUCH!! Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
Actually, in Hawaii it's pronounced "slipp-ahz"
thong is the term I grew up with (East Coast), then came "flip-flops" (West Coast).
Somewhere in there was the (japanese?) term "zoris" (pronounced ZOR-eez)
Posted by romanylass (Member # 6306) on :
Posted by Squish (Member # 9191) on :
Bob, you're awesome.
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
???
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
Yes, living in San Francisco I grew up hearing Flip-flops and the occassional zoris. Zoris can be a bit different though, and there are types you can buy in China town that have a kind of cloth lip that goes over the whole bottom of the foot. I think though, that these are also called "kung fu slippers."
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
You are right, Dan. That is funny!
It's like when my grandmother asks me if I got high when I went to a wedding or a party. (means drunk to her, but surprises me every time)
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
So...did you?
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
By the way, I like the "Locals" brand of flip flops from Hawaii.
Posted by maui babe (Member # 1894) on :
Locals are the only kine slippahs my children will wear. My daughter and her husband wore them to their wedding - in Idaho. They're so much better than the "Surfah" brand.
No really. They are.
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
And Maui Wowee candy bars... the one with coffee in it, especially!
Posted by maui babe (Member # 1894) on :
Yeah, they're good, though, being the good mormon mom that I am, I've never had the coffee kine (actually there are two varieties with coffee...) The banana ones are surprisingly good though.
Posted by Mike (Member # 55) on :
So, the Hawaii accent is kinda like the Rhode Island accent?
Posted by Celaeno (Member # 8562) on :
I've never been to Rhode Island, but I will guess that the answer is almost certainly no.
Let's see.
T's at the beginning of words are dulled to a D sound, but T's in the middle are sharpened. "The" becomes "da" and "kitten" becomes "kitTen" as opposed to "kit'n."
Vowels are short. For example, my mainland friends tease me for the way I say "Amanda" because my middle A does not have the twangy, slightly longer sound. I say all three A's in the same way.
D's at the end of words are dropped altogether. "Kind" becomes "kine."
The Hawaii accent has a lot to do with intonation. It's not so much the way you pronounce the words but the way you say sentences.
Going a step further from just the Hawaiian accent, Pidgin has its own grammar and its own lexicon of words derived from different languages.
There's more. I'm sure erosomniac or Juxtapose or Maui Babe or any other Hatracker who has lived in Hawaii can help out.
And yes, I call them slippers.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
I almost always hear them called flip-flops, and I'm in the midwest. Actually everyone pretty much blanketedly calls them all sandals, but if someone were to differentiate, it'd be flip-flop.
I've never heard anyone call them thongs without a punchline after it, so I've heard the term, but it's not widely used around here.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
They're called slippers here, and most people buy Bata. Cuz that's everywhere, ya know. Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
I had almost the same experience as Dan, but a little different. I was pushing my elderly aunt around in a wheelchair at a market a couple of weekends ago, when suddenly she lurched forward saying "Wait! wait!" I stopped the chair and she wiggled a bit and said, "It's OK now, my thong slipped and I almost lost it."
I looked over at Chris, saw the look on his face and we almost lost it, too.
Incidentally, I heard them called "thongs" growing up, but almost everyone I know calls them "flip-flops" nowadays.
Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
I, personally, prefer the Tagalog word: chinelas (CHEE-nel-uz). Good word. They've got a lot of 'em. Good language. I'm trying to learn it.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
quote:Originally posted by Bob_Scopatz: So...did you?
Um. Most likely.
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
FOLLOW THE GORD! The Holy Gord of Jerusalem!
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
I still call them thongs. In fact, I was 14 before I knew there was another kind of thongs.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
I call my Reefs "Teevas." Posted by stacey (Member # 3661) on :
Hey, we call them Jandals here in New Zealand.....
![[ROFL]](graemlins/rofl.gif)
OUCH!! ![[Smile]](smile.gif)