# What do YOU call them? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 14, 1999, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-them/7843 "1999-09-14T20:44:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dwtno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@dwtno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwtno)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 1999, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-them/7843/21 "1999-09-15T16:18:00Z")
I HATE those things! We always called them flip-flops, and I couldn’t stand to wear them. They always feel as though they’re about to fall off my feet. If I wear them, I seem to keep my toes clenched in an unconscience attempt to keep the “shoes” from slipping off. Try clencing your toes, hard, for several consecutive minutes. It hurts! My feet always ached terribly whenever I wore flip-flops. I hate 'em! ---
**Author:** ![wireless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f14d63/32.png) [@wireless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wireless)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 1999, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-them/7843/22 "1999-09-15T16:52:00Z")
Flip-flops is what everyone I knew growing up called them, except for a pretentious neighbor family that called them “zories” (sp?). I think it’s from the Japanese word for the (usually straw) ones. Now that I think of it, how pretentious can you be if you’re wearin’ 'em, no matter WHAT you call 'em? ---
**Author:** ![Jorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@Jorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jorge)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 1999, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-them/7843/23 "1999-09-16T05:13:00Z")
“Shower shoes” (Navy); “tsinellas” (Philippines, Guam); “zorries” (Guam); “shoes” (Hawaii); “flipflops” (Calif.) A pretty tough gang in Guam in the early 90’s was called “3F1BZ”, for “Three Filipinos with One Broken Zorrie”. Perhaps some juvenile offenders are just frutrated poets. ---
**Author:** ![popokis5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@popokis5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/popokis5)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 1999, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-them/7843/24 "1999-09-15T19:30:00Z")
Flip flops. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 1999, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-them/7843/25 "1999-09-15T21:00:00Z")
My dad was in the Navy, then my brother, then me, now my husband… We always call 'em “shower shoes.” * * * ``` Jess ``` Full of 'satiable curtiosity ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 1999, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-them/7843/26 "1999-09-15T21:12:00Z")
Actually, it takes exactly nine yards of straw to weave the base of one of these shoes, which is the origin of the phrase “the whole nine yards.” I’ve got to stop this. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 1999, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-them/7843/27 "1999-09-16T00:05:00Z")
When I was a kid I called them by their rightful name: zoris. My mother was into them and even more into the companion sock, known to me as tabbies. (cotton with a separation between the big toe and the rest, with fasteners at the heel; you’ve all seen 'em on the feet of geisha). Then I called them thongs, and now I call them zoris again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-them/7843.md?page=1)