Inspired by this thread.
How did we get two different wearable items with the same name?
I didn’t vote. “Buttcheeks” wasn’t included.
Really, I can’t recall not knowing out of context. But I went ahead and chose “flip flops” since that was the first thing I knew “thongs” to be.
The underwear was called a “G-string”. (And then later I learned it was also called a thong").
Thomthing you thing with a lithp.
Neither. I think of a narrow strip of leather (or other material strong enough to act as a narrow strip of leather). You know, a thong.
The wearables are named after what they are held on with. In the case of the footgear, what they used to be held on with.
Ditto.
Rubbers too. When my stepdad asks my mom where his rubbers are, I about choke.
Maybe it’s regional but I never heard flip-flops referred to as thongs until very recently and not in real life.
Before say 1976 or so I would have said flip=flops. But since then I have heard it, and basically used it, in relation to underwear and swimsuits.
Neither. I think of leathercrafting.
The underwear’s a g-string, the sandals are flip-flops.
Butt floss.
It would depend on the context; the word can mean either.
True, but I think about women’s underwear more than I think about flip flops.
Phrasing!
FWIW, the word thong meant shoes when I was growing up in the 80s. Then came that glorious renaissance of female underwear. And its sad consequence, the whale-tail.
Now, I think of the undies.
For some reason I thought of swimwear rather than underwear. But definitely not flipflops.
Note that a thong and a G-string are not the same thing.
You really should have made a third option available. When I think of a thong, I think about whether it would be eathy to thing.
We grew up calling flip-flops thongs. I learned about g-strings in the early 80’s and their alternate name a few years later.