Slap slaps

If you are anything like me then you will be aware that something's just don't seem right, that they are not as they should be. There is something very fishy about flip flops. Why are they called flip flops and not something else? When i was walking back from the store today wearing my trusted foot attire known as "flip flops" i had the strangest of thoughts. I realised that if i flicked my foot a little i could make a noise that sounded like a slap on a bald man's head. So my thought was this....if the word "flip flop" is meant to be the sound they make, then why are they not called "slap slaps"? That would make more sense especially as my understanding of the word flip means to turn over and flop means to hang down, so upon my feet i wear a pair of turned over hanging down shoes. It just dosen't make sense. But slap slap, that makes sense or why not call them "shoes that fall off when trying to run". Proberly because that name wouldn't be as catchy as "flip flop" Also, imagine going into a store and asking for a pair of shoes that fall off when i run.....its an easy way to convince ourselves that we really don't want them. What's the point in having something that will fall off? So i did a little study on the ever faithful and colourful freedom accessories...........
Did you know that the use of the word flip-flop for thong sandals is a modern term dating from the 1960’s that describes what is probably the oldest form of footwear still being worn (the term flip flap has been used in various echoic senses since 1529). Flip flops have been around for at least six thousand years. As a point of comparison, primitive shoes are shown in rock paintings dating from the late Paleolithic (Stone Age) period some 15,000 years ago. There are depictions of flip flops in ancient Egyptian murals on tombs and temples from about 4,000 B.C.
The oldest surviving examples of thongs were made from papyrus leaves circa 1,500 B.C., which are on display in the British Museum. Early flip flops were made from a multitude of materials. Ancient Egyptian sandals were made from papyrus and palm leaves; rawhide was used by the Masai in Africa; wooden sandals were made in India; rice straw was used in China and Japan; the leaves of the sisal plant provided twine for sandals in South America; and the indigenous populations of Mexico used the yucca plant. (maybe this is why some people say eeewww flip flops yuk! :)) Get it?
Styles too varied with the differing placement of the toe strap, as subsequent civilizations preferred using different toes. The Greeks for example made use of the big toe; the Romans, the second toe; and the Mesapotanians, the third toe. These distinctive, physical entities were recognised and captured in Egyptian statues, and this was thought to represent the celebration of other cultures. Legend has it that courtesans in ancient Rome arranged the nails on the soles of their thongs to spell out follow me in the dust of the street.
The Nihon fuuzokushi jiten (Encyclopedia of the History of Japanese Manners and Customs) reports the wide use of zori (a form of flip flop with a thong held between the toes) in Japan from at least the Heian period (794-1185) Japanese children have traditionally worn them when learning to walk.
Given their long history, flip flops up to now have changed relatively little from ancient times.
In America, the first flip flops started to appear after World War II as soldiers brought Japanese zori back from the war, often as souvenirs. The precursor to the modern flip flop really began to catch on, however, when soldiers returned from the Korean War in the 1950's during the postwar 1950’s boom. Soldiers wore these predecessors to what we now think of as flip-flops, which were cheap rubber editions that frequently caused blisters and were so poorly made that they didn’t last long.
As the footwear entered into American popular culture, it became redesigned and changed into the bright colors of Fifties design. As “pop culture,” flip flops became defining examples of an informal lifestyle and came to represent the California lifestyle in general and surf culture in particular.
It seemed like all kids wore them to the beach or the pool and cheap rubber flip flops appeared in every dime store and beach shop. Over time, designs spread from rubber to wood to leather to bamboo and stylized platforms, yet all of them remaining true to the original base design of the early rubber flip flops.
So next time you go shopping for a pair of flip flops just think about their history. 1000's of years old and yet still going strong. Who says "crocs" are the new thing ( i have a pair of those too, orange ones and they are very comfortable) Great people of the past have worn the famous thong sandal known to us as flip flops, but me.........
I say 3 cheers for the slap slaps.
Hip hip... hoorah! Hip hip ...hoorah! Hip hip... hoorah! Jolly good show.


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