28 Jul /16

Flip-flops

Flip-flops - Word of the day - EVS Translations
Flip-flops – Word of the day – EVS Translations

Flip-flops are often referred to as one of the inventions for the lazy man, but always as a basic necessity for our summertime wardrobes. And while young people nowadays would with equal comfort carry a high-end designer flip-flops to an official event and a plain design rubber ones through urban walks, the older generation would normally reserve the flip-flops for mainly beach visits.

Flip-flops could be typically described as footwear that consists of a flat sole held loosely on the foot by a Y-shaped strap or a thong that passes between the first and second toes and goes around both sides of the foot.

Such types of sandals originated as early as the 4000 B.C. Ancient Egypt and the British Museum displays the oldest known pair, made from papyrus, circa 1500 B.C.

Besides papyrus and palm leaves, the early versions of flip-flops were made from a wide variety of materials, depending on the region. For example, in India they were made out of wood, in China and Japan, rice straw was used and in South America – rawhide and sisal and yucca plant leaves.

The modern flip-flop is believed to have originated from a Japanese style called zori, which the American soldiers, returning from World War II, brought back to the States and named ‘jandals,’ from the words ‘Japanese’ and ‘sandal.’

The Japanese sandals quickly caught on and from house slippers turned into a beach trend by the 1950s, when a Hong Kong based businessman began manufacturing cheap rubber versions.

In the following years, American companies started producing flip-flops in blight colours and comfortable designs and by the 1960s, the convenient footwear stepped on all California beaches.

The emblematic Havaianas brand was created in 1962 in Brazil and the rest is simply a discussion whether flip-flops and thongs are the same thing and whether there shall be a dash or not.

The name flip-flops derives from the sound of a regular footfall, and is simply an onomatopoeia of the sound made by the sandals when walking in them, flip…flop…flip…flop. The word was part of the English vocabulary since at least the mid 17th century, firstly met in print in the 1661 Confused characters of conceited coxcombs: “We will stop the mishapen hols widdowed of their flipflops.”

By the late 19th century, the term came to describe a change of mind, a reversal. And in 1958 the name of the sandals was officially acknowledges, appearing in a customs declaration of personal belongings: “Maps, 1 pair of ‘flip-flops’, 1 shirt (white), 1 shirt (coloured)…”

It is true that flip-flops allow for free circulation of air around feet and are easy to slip on and off, but if you are one of those who believe in their chameleon ability to blend with any surrounding – let us warn you that the etiquette rules that there is no such thing as dressy flip-flops and the convenient footwear shall not be worn at format occasions, through if you have to choose between crocks and flip-flops, that is yet another story.