# Man orders size 14.5 slippers from China, and winds up with size 1450 instead. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 20, 2011, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230 "2011-10-20T09:22:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/1 "2011-10-20T09:22:49Z")
> [@](#): > > A MAN who ordered a special size 14.5 slipper to fit his oversized foot was sent a size 1,450 after the Chinese manufacturers failed to spot a decimal point in his order. [http://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/man-orders-size-145-slipper-and-gets-size-1450-after-mistranslation-in-china-2911714.html](http://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/man-orders-size-145-slipper-and-gets-size-1450-after-mistranslation-in-china-2911714.html) ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/2 "2011-10-20T09:46:50Z")
Was he charged the price for a regular slipper? If so, he got a bargain! ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/3 "2011-10-20T10:18:12Z")
Very Spinal Tap. **Giles** , the company involved has admitted their error and is now making him a pair the correct size. The buyer has been told to keep the giant one (would cost too much to ship it back) and is trying to make a few quid by selling it on eBay. (Although the cynical part of me wonders if the whole thing is a publicity stunt.) ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/4 "2011-10-20T11:26:18Z")
This has got to be a hoax. Quite apart from the idiocy of it, what company is going to send out that huge thing when the customer has only paid for a (slightly bigger than) normal sized pair of slippers? (Or alternatively what customer is going to pay whatever that huge thing would cost when he thinks he is only going to get a near-normal sized pair for his money?) Also, who bothers to buy slippers (as opposed to shoes) in half sizes? I have never evenseen them available in halves. If a 14 is too small for him, he will be fine with a 15. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/5 "2011-10-20T11:34:53Z")
Can’t answer the first part ( good questions), but the article said the guy has two feet with really different sizes (13 and 14.5), so all his shoes are custom. The 15 would just be huge on the size 13 foot. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/6 "2011-10-20T11:39:03Z")
I call shenanigans. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/7 "2011-10-20T11:40:37Z")
14.5 inch foot? How _you_ doing? Hey he’s kind of cute too :0) ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/8 "2011-10-20T11:57:48Z")
Bit of a rubbish publicity stunt if it was, ‘get your custom orders from us- we can’t read, and we might send you _anything_!’ Though yeah, if it costs too much to send back, surely that would also have been the case for sending it- no way was that a reasonable price for a slipper, making or posting. I do want one as a sleeping bag though. ---
**Author:** ![Rickymouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/34f0e0/32.png) [@Rickymouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rickymouse)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/9 "2011-10-20T12:07:19Z")
It looks like it would make a comfortable bed. Might be able to fit two people in there. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/10 "2011-10-20T12:08:25Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Can’t answer the first part ( good questions), but the article said the guy has two feet with really different sizes (13 and 14.5), so all his shoes are custom. The 15 would just be huge on the size 13 foot. You would think that it would be cheaper to buy two pairs of shoes or slippers and use one from each pair, rather than order custom-made ones. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/11 "2011-10-20T12:12:45Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > You would think that it would be cheaper to buy two pairs of shoes or slippers and use one from each pair, rather than order custom-made ones. I have no idea. I’ve never custom ordered a shoe. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/12 "2011-10-20T12:50:10Z")
I’m having an Ed Sullivan moment. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/13 "2011-10-20T12:53:05Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > This has got to be a hoax. Kind of my feeling. It’s not just the size of the slipper, but the \*kind \*of slipper. I mean, really – do grown people order slippers with claws on them? ---
**Author:** ![wellanuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@wellanuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wellanuff)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/14 "2011-10-20T12:55:11Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I’m having an Ed Sullivan moment. Well done! ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/15 "2011-10-20T12:59:02Z")
Guardian reckons a PR stunt. > **[Was the 7 foot 'monster slipper' really a PR stunt?](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/reality-check-with-polly-curtis/2011/oct/20/monster-slipper-stunt)** > > A man orders a size 14.5 slipper for his unusually large foot and receives a 1,450 instead after a 'translation' error. The hilarious picture story was reported by the Times, Telegraph and Daily Mail. But is it true? Polly Curtis finds out. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/16 "2011-10-20T13:17:45Z")
He could always gift it to an old homeless woman with many children for use as a domicile. ---
**Author:** ![Ambihelical\_Hexnut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4491bb/32.png) [@Ambihelical\_Hexnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambihelical_Hexnut)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/17 "2011-10-20T14:01:17Z")
It’s surely a hoax- shoe sizes increase by 1 for every 1/3 inch increase in foot length, so a real size 1450 slipper would be around 40 feet long. ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/18 "2011-10-20T14:47:57Z")
> [@Sal\_Ammoniac](#): > > Kind of my feeling. It’s not just the size of the slipper, but the \*kind \*of slipper. I mean, really – do grown people order slippers with claws on them? I would. And so would most of the alleged grown-ups I know 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/19 "2011-10-20T14:53:19Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I’m having an Ed Sullivan moment. 'Splain for the youngun’s? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/20 "2011-10-20T14:56:10Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > 'Splain for the youngun’s? “Really big shoe (show)” was something he would say introducing the nights acts. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230.md?page=2)