j1mg Report This Comment Date: November 22, 2011 09:36PM
What a freak... i hate flip-flops!
quasi Report This Comment Date: November 22, 2011 10:18PM
Cool, I've got a knife just like the one on the far left. And I hate flip flops
too. Don't mess with me, man.
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: November 22, 2011 10:41PM
In the navy they called em shower shoes and you had to wear them in the shower
supposedly to prevent spreading athlete's foot.
woberto Report This Comment Date: November 22, 2011 11:40PM
In Australia we call them thongs.
That has led to some confusion over the years...
GAK67 Report This Comment Date: November 22, 2011 11:58PM
In NZ we call them jandals - it was a brand name that stuck. Nothing wrong with
them in summer with shorts at the beach, but not with trousers at the
supermarket, not to mention the risk to the toes if he dropped one of the many
sharp implements he's carrying.
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: November 23, 2011 12:11AM
I've heard them referred to as thongs, flip flops, shower shoes, jap flaps,
rubber sandals, beach sandals, beach shoes. The thong thing is funny now that
you mention it.
I don't mind them. Sometimes I wish I had a
pair. I never think to buy any when I see them though.
quasi Report This Comment Date: November 23, 2011 01:14AM
When I was a kid in Ohio we called them thongs but ever since I came to Florida
(the land of Jimmy Buffet) in 1980 I've known them as flip flops, as in
"stepped on a pop top and blew out my flip flop." I just figured it
was a regional thing.
fossil_digger Report This Comment Date: November 23, 2011 01:24AM
flip flop here
woberto Report This Comment Date: November 23, 2011 01:32AM
I am amazed at the longevity of some brand names.
People don't call it correction fluid,
they call it Liquid Paper, regardless of the brand.
People don't call it a felt tipped pen,
they call it a Texta (in Australia).
When I ask for bourbon and coke,
I don't actually expect Coca-Cola.
Et al.
pro_junior Report This Comment Date: November 23, 2011 06:06AM
when i was a kid in MN they were thongs, lived in WA some of my youth and was
thongs too...but at some point, I really don't remember when, they became
flip-flops...presumably so as not to be confused with butt-floss...during my
short time in the military they were shower shoes...
growing up we moved around the country a time or two, and at different schools
I've drank water from a drinking fountain, water fountain, water cooler, and at
one school I went to, a bubbler...a common prank was to give someone a 'bubbler
ride' i.e. place victim atop drinking fountain and turn it on, much hilarity
ensues..
I've heard rubber bands called 'binders'
water faucets called spigots or taps or hose-bibs..
I remember being in TX late 80's and every kind of soda was refered to as a
coke... i.e. hey ya want a coke? yeah sure...okay what kind? 7-up...
jgoins Report This Comment Date: November 23, 2011 12:11PM
I have no problem with flip flops aka thongs. I wear them just about all the
time even when the temp drops below 40 degrees. Of course it does help if you
have no feeling in your feet. I've been told I have pretty feet anyway.
quasi Report This Comment Date: November 23, 2011 01:35PM
But do you have happy feet?
fossil_digger Report This Comment Date: November 23, 2011 01:52PM
damn JG! thanks for that pic.
ORLANDO399 Report This Comment Date: November 23, 2011 02:27PM
Well its settled then! Now we all know jg enjoys wearing thongs
pro_junior Report This Comment Date: November 23, 2011 07:27PM
and possibly applies nail polish to his toes...
pro_junior Report This Comment Date: November 23, 2011 07:30PM
also, you might be surprised to find out how many truck drivers wear
them...I've seen try to walk around inside places like steel mills, lumber
mills, shipping ports etc wearing t-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops
ORLANDO399 Report This Comment Date: November 23, 2011 07:40PM
Yep.....always seem to run into a few of them at the 95 rest stops too
GAK67 Report This Comment Date: November 23, 2011 08:45PM
"I am amazed at the longevity of some brand names.
People don't call it correction fluid,
they call it Liquid Paper, regardless of the brand.
People don't call it a felt tipped pen,
they call it a Texta (in Australia).
When I ask for bourbon and coke,
I don't actually expect Coca-Cola.
Et al."
Not everywhere 'berto. Correction fluid here (not that you get it in offices
much anymore) is called Twink - again a brand name.
We don't have Texta's here, they are felt pens or markers/marker pens.
As for the bourbon and coke I heard some years ago that Coca Cola actually
employed people to go into bars and order a coke mixer, eg bourbon and coke, rum
and coke, etc and check that they were actually served coke and then would
prosecute the bar if it wasn't.
Other brand names that have stuck (at least here in NZ):
I have heard people say they are going to 'lux the carpet' (shortened version of
a brand of vacuum cleaner, Electrolux). I have also heard that some people,
particularly in the UK, still talk about 'hoovering the carpet'.
We don't have shoe polish, we have Nugget.
My mother still calls her food processor her Kitchen Whizz, which was the first
brand she owned of that appliance.
fossil_digger Report This Comment Date: November 23, 2011 09:26PM
butter...parkay
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: November 23, 2011 09:32PM
No it isn't.
fossil_digger Report This Comment Date: November 23, 2011 10:08PM
country crock
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: November 23, 2011 10:33PM
Partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, salt, food coloring.
woberto Report This Comment Date: November 23, 2011 11:26PM
GAK, our shoe polish is called Kiwi...
fossil_digger Report This Comment Date: November 23, 2011 11:36PM
damn! why didn't i think of that one?
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: November 24, 2011 12:09AM
Shinola.
fossil_digger Report This Comment Date: November 24, 2011 12:10AM
shit or.....
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: November 24, 2011 12:33AM
... get off the pot.
The common names adapted from brand names is funny. Being in the Navy for a
while and meeting people from all over America I got learn a shitload of
different names for things. Coke vs pop vs soda was never agreed upon.
jgoins Report This Comment Date: November 24, 2011 12:02PM
Well this pic is certainly not me I only wear one knife on my belt and I am not
quite that fat, yet. No nail polish but my feet have very little feeling so not
so happy. I eat egg shells and used coffee grounds because I have a tape worm
and that's good enough for it, nyuk nyuk nyuk.
Mrkim Report This Comment Date: November 26, 2011 02:28PM
There's s subtle but definite difference here between what we call thongs and
flip flops.
As a kid all that was available were thongs which are the foam rubber soles with
the uppers held in place by rubber or plastic straps which protrude through
holes in the lowers to the bottom and then are held on by having round tabs on
the bottoms.
Flip flops use similar material for the soles yet tend to be made with cushier
and thicker foam soles and the uppers are cloth instead of plastic and are held
in place by being glued and bonded between layers of the soles, hence having no
offensive hard tabs on the bottom of the soles, which my oh-so-tender size
11-1/2 EEEEs really appreciate.
Love flip flops and wear 'em most of the year since the openness of 'em helps
keep my feet and the rest of me cooler which is a plus since we have more warm
weather than cold. Can't stand thongs though 'cause the plastic uppers make my
feet sweat!
Also, in between thongs and the creation of flip flops there was a craze of
something in between which used surgical rubber tubing for the uppers and were
branded as Titties, which helped sell more than a few of 'em since after all,
who dudn like Titties
Always thought it was odd that here in Dallas, the home of Dr. Pepper, all
carbonated drinks are generically called Cokes, like PJ mentioned. If you have a
house full of company and say you're headed to the store to get some Cokes for
your guests you might need a pad to write down their choices
2 things that seem to perplex folks from other parts of the country are the use
of "fixin to" as in "I'm fixin to go to the store, wanna
go?" and "over yonder" as in "Put that pallet of boxes over
yonder by the strapping machine."
Then there's our propensity for odd local contractions here in the south
Wanna= Want to?
J'wanna= Do you want to?
Yontoo=Do you want to?
I'da=I would have
We all=All of us
We'da=We would have
They'da= They would have .... and the list goes on
In my travels in the northeastern US one thing I found puzzling was using the
word "yet" in place of "still" as in "Does your Dad
work at Ford yet?". Here that would not make sense at all and would be
interpreted to be asking if your Dad has started to work for Ford yet, while to
Yankees it means does your Dad still work for Ford.
Language can be fun stuff and the permutations of the variations of the English
language can indeed be interesting, if not challenging to grasp the
colloquialisms of.
Just in car terms there's a great divide between the US and most of the rest of
the english speaking world.
Hood= Bonnet
Trunk=Boot/Hatch
Windshield=Windscreen
Shifter=Gear Selector
Headlights=Headlamps
A grabby clutch is said to exhibit "clutch judder"
And ... since Americans were the 1st to truly embrace widespread use of cars in
society we all know you drive on the right side of the road, not the left
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: November 26, 2011 03:22PM
In the west coast states the language is more like that of the south and the
further north you go the more southern it sounds.
quasi Report This Comment Date: November 27, 2011 11:53AM
Here in Southwest Florida there's a really mixed bag of accents and
colloquialisms because practically everyone here has come from someplace else or
is second generation of folks from someplace else; it can get very
interesting.
The Ford dealer in one small town near here has proudly advertised for years
that "Y'all is spoken here."
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: November 27, 2011 04:30PM
My sister lives in SW Florida too and she tells me I sound like a hick. I've
been living in Orygun a real long time.
jgoins Report This Comment Date: November 28, 2011 11:49AM
Anyone who isn't from Arkansas sounds funny to me.
GAK67 Report This Comment Date: November 28, 2011 08:54PM
What gets to me is the American spelling of certain words - sometimes I think
it is just laziness, dropping a letter that doesn't seem necessary:
Colour vs color
Honour vs honor
Theatre vs theater
Calibre vs caliber
Fibre vs fiber
Aluminium vs aluminum
Defence vs defense
Cheque vs check
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: November 28, 2011 10:33PM
Aluminium is the official name of the element. Aluminum is the American/lazy
way of saying and spelling it and a lot of the rest of the world adapted it.
GAK67 Report This Comment Date: November 28, 2011 11:01PM
I know I'm a pedant, but don't you mean 'adopted' rather than 'adapted' blah?
fossil_digger Report This Comment Date: November 28, 2011 11:38PM
*snicker*
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: November 29, 2011 12:44AM
Yes you're right Gak, my error.
Why does the Fossil snicker?
woberto Report This Comment Date: November 29, 2011 01:38AM
Fossil has been there many times before with GAK "the Teacher".
ORLANDO399 Report This Comment Date: December 03, 2011 08:05PM
and lost everytime
0-13 by
now,come on fossil ya cant remain hitless forever...we have faith in ya!
fossil_digger Report This Comment Date: December 03, 2011 08:26PM
hee haw
GAK67 Report This Comment Date: December 04, 2011 09:46AM
That last comment finally got a smile out of me fossil. Have you been taking
humour lessons?
How is my name-sake donkey getting on anyway?
