Random memory: thong (or, why you shouldn't use regional vocabulary to reach the whole world)

[pne]

I remember when I went on my mission, I got a list of items they suggested I pack.

Said list included "thongs".

I had no idea what that meant, since for me, "thong" was a piece of leather, and I had no idea what I would need one of those for.

So I tried to ask around (this was in pre-Web days for me, I think) and gathered that a thong could also be a particularly skimpy piece of underwear. That didn't make much more sense, either, so I ignored the "thongs" entirely.

Only a couple of years later did I learn that "thongs" could *also* refer to flip-flips: so called, presumably, because of the thong that goes between your big toe and your second toe to stop your foot from slipping off the front. Which made more sense as an item to pack.

But seriously. That word might be common in Utah, but I had no idea what to make of it. Call them "flip-flops" or "shower shoes" or "bathing sandals" or something, or at least add a synonym or two.

(Or am I being provincial and "thongs" is indeed widely understood in Anglophonia as meaning the footwear?)

Comments

[azurelunatic]

I think it's fairly widely understood, although I first knew them as zōri.

[ailbhe]

It's not UK or Irish English, but I think it's common Australian English and variable-region within North America.

[evilsusan]

What? You weren't issued with your temple thong underpants? ;-)

[pne]

Those have rather too much material in them to be called 'thong' in any way, shape, or form :)

[evilsusan]

I grew up with people who behaved as if they had the whole thing wedged right up there. I'm glad yours have stayed loose. :-)

[chasy]

thongs to me have only ever been underwear. and i call them "flip-flops" so i thought it was interesting that you call them flip-flips. that actually makes more sense, in terms of the noise they make. :)

[pne]

i thought it was interesting that you call them flip-flips.

Sorry to disappoint you, but that was only a slip of the finger :) I say flip-flops, too.

[alsatia]

I don't call the footwear thongs, but I think in the US most people would know that other people do, and could figure out from the context that it was footwear and not underwear.