Shoes--simple things you put on your feet, right? But the sheer number of different names I've heard the humble tennis shoe called in the last few days is mind-boggling.
I'm watching a British television show and they call them "trainers"
I'm in Canada and they call them "runners"
I'm in Philly and they call them "kicks"
I'm on the East Coast and they're "sneakers". This particular moniker provoked a lot of West Coast scorn when my professor from Pennsylvania said it.
I'm on the West Coast and I'm guessing they call them "tennis shoes". I'm not 100% sure about this one though. You would think since I've lived here almost 4 years I would, but I don't. I just know you get mocked if you call them sneakers.
They are also known as "tennies" or "sneaks".
Then you get people who just call them "Nikes" no matter what the brand. Kind of like how they call everything a Coke in the South even if it's not. (Don't get me started on the whole pop/soda debate. I can't wait to move back to the Great Lakes Region and be near my people again who call it pop).
I pity the fool who calls them "athletic shoes" but that's another story.
I read an article recently where they found the oldest human shoe. It was a leather lace-up thing. However, when I tried to find out more information about it and googled "shoes" somehow a disturbing entry from Wikipedia entitled "foot thongs"appeared. Not sure what to make about that.
So many names for such a simple thing....high tops, low tops, slip-ons, Chuck Taylors, rubber shoes in the Philippines (according to Wikipedia and which sounds wrong on so many levels).
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