Slippers and Thongs - What Not To Wear Or Say in India, England, Australia and Worldwide

 

Flag of India

When Indians say slippers, they mean what people in the UK call flip-flops. Catalogue companies can them toe-post shoes. I was in a Toastmasters International contest for speech evaluation The speech I evaluated was about a pair of slippers.

UK flag

The test speaker for a speech evaluation contest held in London, started his speech by holding up what we in London, England, call flip-flops.

Indians call these slippers.

 Both I and a friend of mine, one of the other contestants, said that we were waiting for the slippers to appear in the speech.

To me, in hte UK, slippers have an enclosed front. They keep you warm in winter.

In the UK, you take off your boots in winter, especially wet boots, heavy boots, dirty boots. You put on soft-soled slippers. I would not even call them house slippers. I might call them bedroom slippers But why? They are just slippers.

 Because the shoes which the Indian speaker held up as props, to us, were not slippers, but flip-flops.

Flag of Australia

Australians call these sandals thongs.

In Australia these items of footwear are called thongs. That confuses the British. To us, thongs are underwear or swimsuits with a vertical string at the back.

I was in Australia at a beach and walked into a bar. The barman said to me, "No thongs allowed." I was surprised. What make him suspect that I was wearing thongs? I assumed he meant underwear. 

Thongs - we say in the UK.

I replied, "I am not wearing thongs."

He pointed down at my feet. "Yes, you are. On your feet. Those are thongs."

I looked again, frowning. Light dawned. I asked, "Are you calling these thongs?"

Now you know what not to wear when you see a sign in Australia which says, No thongs.

Useful Websites

https://www.theflipflopshop.com.sg/