flip-flops and other mistakes of civilization
I so often find myself without a decent blog topic because I restrain myself from writing about things that annoy me. The theme has to get old. But what can you do when that's all the material you have.
Flip-flops. I have serious trouble with flip-flops. I have seen on other blogs that I'm not the only person who feels this way. My principal gripe is that I hate the sound, that pattern of sweat sticking and unsticking itself from the soles. And I have difficulty understanding such impractical footwear. You cannot conduct any meaningful activity in flip-flops. I myself feel profoundly uncomfortable in shoes if (a) I have to make a concerted effort to make them remain on my feet (b) I risk continual blistering (c) my walking is slowed to about half its normal pace.
Here's an etiquette question. I myself haven't made a final judgment on this one. If you have the full intention of buying a food item from a store, should you feel free to start munching before you even pay for it? I can see a few isolated situations in which this might be OK -- for example, it's usually better for everyone if you get an early start on a melting ice cream cone. But I'm thinking primarily of packaged food -- like, the woman behind me in line who cracks into her potato chips before reaching the cash register. Is this bad form, or is it socially acceptable now? (I should note that the woman was going to use one of those self-checkout lanes, maybe this is a special case).
Comments
And so, what is old is new again! About 50 years ago these pieces of rubber (or whatever polymer they are made of) that pass as footwear are popular again.
Of course back then, they were called "thongs" (which now has taken on a new meaning).
I can remember coming home from a vacation to I-can't-remember-where, daydreaming about making my own. I must have been 7 or 8.
Back then they were primarily beachwear, or something to wear in showers so one wouldn't get athlete's foot. They evolved into leather "thong" sandals which were never comfortable for my toes.
Flop-flops certainly offer poor foot protection; do slow down a persons walk; absolutely don't work when you are trying to ride a bike; cause too many trips, stumbles, and tumbles, and sometimes show off some rather ugly feet.
Of course they are easy to put on--you don't have to bend over. In our increasingly lazy society that does seem important, since there are many other shoes you slide into and don't even have to pull up over your heel--we used to call those "scuffs" or "mules"; they were primarily bedroom slippers.
I'm amazed that "flip-flops" are still so popular, and I hate it when people adopt a fad as the "newest thing" when the fad was really "ours" from 1/2 century ago!
(And you know, these ugly pants people call "clam diggers" we called "peddle-pushers" because long pantlegs got caught in the chains of our bikes!)
As far as the impatient woman in the grocery store--I don't know. It seems now that if I mention what I once thought, and still do, was improper I find myself classified as a stodgy old fuddy-duddy. (Well, maybe I am--who's to say?)
Posted by: Jane | Junio 26, 2005 07:58 AM
I ride my bike in flip-flops sometimes, though mine aren't of the thong variety. And I think it's high time that short (3/4 length) pants became fashionable for men. I see my wife wearing hers, and they look perfect for bicycling.
Posted by: Jim | Junio 26, 2005 05:12 PM
Capris, I always called them -- who used the term "clam diggers"? Who even has the authority to give such a name to these pants -- who really has any experience digging up clams?
As for 3/4 length pants and men -- yeah, I don't know why that doesn't catch on. I can seem to envision various spandex-based models on pictures of athletes, maybe wrestlers? But in general, no, I'm not sure what it is about them that seems effeminate. If you had asked me yesterday I would have cited what I thought was capris' fundamental impracticality -- why wear pants if they're not going to protect your entire leg -- and that impracticality would satisfy my theory of why women are expected to wear most anything. The more cumbersome it makes your movement, the more society expects women to wear it, that's what I say. But then, I could see capris' utility for biking, so I stand corrected.
Posted by: Karin | Junio 28, 2005 06:43 AM
They were "pedal-pushers" not "peddle-pushers."
Posted by: Robyn O'Neill | Agosto 22, 2005 02:01 PM