# 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:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/21 "2011-10-20T14:59:17Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > 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. He could always sell them to Shaquille O’Neal. > [@tdn](#): > > I’m having an Ed Sullivan moment. > [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > 'Splain for the youngun’s? “We have a really big shoe here tonight. A really big shoe.” Exaggerating the way that Sullivan would say “really big show.” Edit- Dammit, ninja’d by **kayaker**! - Glowers sternly. ---
**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, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/22 "2011-10-20T15:03:13Z")
Bwahaha… now that I get it, can appreciate it. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/23 "2011-10-20T15:46:02Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I’m having an Ed Sullivan moment. > [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > 'Splain for the youngun’s? > [@kayaker](#): > > “Really big shoe (show)” was something he would say introducing the nights acts. > [@cochrane](#): > > “We have a really big shoe here tonight. A really big shoe.” > > Exaggerating the way that Sullivan would say “really big show.” > > - Glowers sternly. Easy for you, for me ees very deefeecult! ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/24 "2011-10-20T16:31:38Z")
Another one calls shenanigans. So if they inadvertently ignored the decimal point, then that means he wrote his order as “14.50” which seems odd. Also, this means the factory actually _makes_ a size 1450 slipper? The linked Guardian article says the company figured it may have been for a window display, which is why they made nothing of the size, but how would they know how big a size 1450 is? They have a scale for that kind of thing? Or did they see 1450 and say, “Hell, let’s just make a big ass shoe”? ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/25 "2011-10-20T17:00:59Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > 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. Also, it seems to me that such an order would fail a basic sanity test. If I, as a software developer, got a bizarre Change Request (say, add a button to a website that allows the user to show the budget in [Ancient] Roman Dinars rather than USD, I’d raise a question and ask if they really meant Euros or something. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/26 "2011-10-20T17:03:13Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > He could always gift it to an old homeless woman with many children for use as a domicile. She’s actually in prison now for child abuse due to over-use of corporal punishment. ---
**Author:** ![BigNik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/73ab20/32.png) [@BigNik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigNik)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2011, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/27 "2011-10-20T21:02:58Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > The linked Guardian article says the company figured it may have been for a window display, which is why they made nothing of the size, but how would they know how big a size 1450 is? You didn’t think that the giveaway was that it was story promoted by a PR group on behalf of a company called “Monster Slippers” that has a website where people can only order in S, M, L and XL? Or that the orders go through the distributor rather than directly to the factory? Do news agencies even have an 8-year-old on staff any more that they can run press releases past to see if they can spot the logical flaws before they publish them verbatim? ---
**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 21, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/28 "2011-10-21T02:28:40Z")
BigNik you win [this](http://www.joeydevilla.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/buzz_killington-191x300.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/29 "2011-10-21T02:54:56Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Or did they see 1450 and say, “Hell, let’s just make a big ass shoe”? [Obligatory xkcd link.](http://xkcd.com/37/) (Damn you, Randall Monroe, I can’t stop doing this whenever I see that phrase, now!) ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/30 "2011-10-21T03:08:35Z")
> [@BigNik](#): > > Do news agencies even have an 8-year-old on staff any more that they can run press releases past to see if they can spot the logical flaws before they publish them verbatim? Because there is some wild and wacky stuff in China that is actually true. The chinese press prints tons of 'wierd stories from around the country" that were never verified and then get picked up as true. And there is also a bias where things that wouldn’t pass the “smell test” at home have suspended disbelief when it comes to China. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/31 "2011-10-21T03:47:23Z")
> [@BigNik](#): > > Do news agencies even have an 8-year-old on staff any more that they can run press releases past to see if they can spot the logical flaws before they publish them verbatim? Eight year olds don’t work for free, bub. > [@dhkendall](#): > > [Obligatory xkcd link.](http://xkcd.com/37/) (Damn you, Randall Monroe, I can’t stop doing this whenever I see that phrase, now!) Don’t even have to click. Actually, because of that, I at times will hyphenate in writing “big-ass” in order to avoid smartassery. Doesn’t work as well in speech, admittedly. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/32 "2011-10-21T04:29:25Z")
This super-sizing is kinda awesome. My hat size is 7 5/8. If I was sent a size 758 hat, how big would it be? Could I live in it? Would I have to, since it would probably cost more than my house? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/33 "2011-10-21T09:06:04Z")
> [@Ambihelical\_Hexnut](#): > > 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. Is there possibly any other sizing system that would work? It seems like a shoe manufacturer would know how shoe sizes work, even when making a hoax. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/34 "2011-10-21T09:36:34Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > This super-sizing is kinda awesome. > > My hat size is 7 5/8. If I was sent a size 758 hat, how big would it be? Could I live in it? Would I have to, since it would probably cost more than my house? Well, a man’s hat size is the diameter of his head, so your head measures 7 5/8 inches across. If you scale it up to 758 inches, it would measure just over 63 feet across. I don’t know how deep the hat would be, but you would have an area of just over 3100 sq. feet. So, yeah, it would be more than big enough to live in. ---
**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 21, 2011, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/35 "2011-10-21T10:10:35Z")
> [@BigNik](#): > > Do news agencies even have an 8-year-old on staff any more that they can run press releases past to see if they can spot the logical flaws before they publish them verbatim? It’s entirely possible the paper knows the story is probably guff, but have published it anyway as it’s bound to generate interest. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/36 "2011-10-21T16:03:35Z")
> [@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. There are also exchange services out there for mismatched shoes, that try to match up people with variously odd-sized feet. I guess the dream would be to find someone with the reverse shoe needs and the same taste. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230/37 "2011-10-21T17:18:43Z")
> [@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 a friend who had a leg infection as an infant, and ended up with one leg a little shorter and foot a couple sizes smaller on one side. She has to buy two pairs of shoes to get one. It is not uncommon. I sold shoes in college, and we had to watch out for people trying on two sizes and swapping them into one box to buy, leaving us with an unsalable mismatched pair. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-orders-size-14-5-slippers-from-china-and-winds-up-with-size-1450-instead/600230.md?page=1)