# When you think of a thong you think of...? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 16, 2019, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-think-of-a-thong-you-think-of/834073 "2019-05-16T18:21:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-think-of-a-thong-you-think-of/834073/21 "2019-05-16T22:19:02Z")
I used to call flip flops thongs, too. But that association has faded, having viewed select others in thongs. And not the foot kind either. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-think-of-a-thong-you-think-of/834073/22 "2019-05-16T22:24:25Z")
Australian. Thongs are _always_ flip-flops. ---
**Author:** ![Emiliana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@Emiliana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emiliana)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-think-of-a-thong-you-think-of/834073/23 "2019-05-16T22:35:57Z")
You should have seen the look my husband gave me when I told him I was looking for leather thongs. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-think-of-a-thong-you-think-of/834073/24 "2019-05-17T00:08:50Z")
Honestly, when I hear “thong” I think Music Video by Sisqo, but since he was in turn referring the swimwear/underwear meaning, I checked that. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-think-of-a-thong-you-think-of/834073/25 "2019-05-17T00:12:35Z")
When I was a child, flip-flops were shoes and g-strings underwear. As I was in high school and college, I heard of thong underwear more and more often (as opposed to the term “g-string” being used). IRL, I have still never heard “thongs” used for flipflops in the wild. I wonder if it’s regional. ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-think-of-a-thong-you-think-of/834073/26 "2019-05-17T00:27:05Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > I used to call flip flops thongs, too. But that association has faded, having viewed select others in thongs. And not the foot kind either. Same here. My definition changed after I got married. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-think-of-a-thong-you-think-of/834073/27 "2019-05-17T00:45:50Z")
Neil Diamond with a lisp? “Thong, thung blue, everybody knows one…” I think of underwear now, in the past I would have said flipflops. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-think-of-a-thong-you-think-of/834073/28 "2019-05-17T01:40:19Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Maybe it’s regional but I never heard flip-flops referred to as thongs until very recently and not in real life. Yeah. I first heard of flip-flops being called thongs online, several years after I was already familiar with the underwear being called that too. I’ve also never heard a person in real life use the word “thongs” for flip-flops because we call them flip-flops. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-think-of-a-thong-you-think-of/834073/29 "2019-05-17T01:44:49Z")
I’ve heard of flip-flops being referred to as thongs, but rarely, and context made the intended meaning clear. ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-think-of-a-thong-you-think-of/834073/30 "2019-05-17T01:59:08Z")
Aussie here, thongs are always flip flops or jandels as our NZ cousins say! ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-think-of-a-thong-you-think-of/834073/31 "2019-05-17T02:38:48Z")
When I was a kid, we didn’t call them either flip flops or thongs. We called them zories. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-think-of-a-thong-you-think-of/834073/32 "2019-05-17T03:00:51Z")
“Thongs” and “zories” were both common terms for flip flops when I was growing up in the South Bay area of Los Angeles County (moved in in 1964; joined the Navy and moved away in 1980). They’re probably not, but I liked imagining that the huarache sandals the Beach Boys sang about were also flip flops. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-think-of-a-thong-you-think-of/834073/33 "2019-05-17T03:21:05Z")
I grew up in Utah in the 60s and 70s and since Mormons wear funny underwear which would not turn on anyone, then thongs were footwear. The Japanese call that kind of underwear “T-back” so I’ve seen/heard that term much more frequently. Until that thread, I had forgotten that we called the shoes “thongs” because it’s been decades since I’ve heard it spoken in that context. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-think-of-a-thong-you-think-of/834073/34 "2019-05-17T03:28:39Z")
Neither. The footwear is called “flip-flops”. The undies are called “buttfloss”. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-think-of-a-thong-you-think-of/834073/35 "2019-05-17T04:45:56Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Thomthing you thing with a lithp. ^Thith. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-think-of-a-thong-you-think-of/834073/36 "2019-05-17T05:19:36Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Note that a thong and a G-string are not the same thing. “[A G-string **is a type of thong**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-string)” “[One **type of thong** is the G-string, the back of which consists only of a (typically elasticized) string](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thong_(clothing))” The second then go on to [discuss](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thong_(clothing)#Thong_vs._G-string)the (minor) differences between the two. But I think it’s safe to say that the actual technical differences are picayune. And anyway have no real bearing on my reply, which ultimately was about regional usage. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-think-of-a-thong-you-think-of/834073/37 "2019-05-17T07:47:28Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > 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. Same here. I’m not even sure thong underwear existed when I was young. ---
**Author:** ![yendis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ed8c4c/32.png) [@yendis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yendis)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-think-of-a-thong-you-think-of/834073/38 "2019-05-17T11:35:48Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Thomthing you thing with a lithp. > [@panache45](#): > > ^Thith. > [@kaylasdad99](#): > > 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. > [@BobLibDem](#): > > Neil Diamond with a lisp? “Thong, thung blue, everybody knows one…” > > I think of underwear now, in the past I would have said flipflops. All of you, go to your roomth without thupper! ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-think-of-a-thong-you-think-of/834073/39 "2019-05-17T13:14:01Z")
When I hear “thong”, I think of the underwear. When I hear “thongs”, I think of the shoes. The poll says “thong”, so I picked underwear. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-think-of-a-thong-you-think-of/834073/40 "2019-05-17T14:01:30Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > True, but I think about women’s underwear more than I think about flip flops. Same here, but that has nothing to do with the terminology. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-think-of-a-thong-you-think-of/834073.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-think-of-a-thong-you-think-of/834073.md?page=3)