# You own how many pairs of flip flops? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 20, 2006, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-how-many-pairs-of-flip-flops/353482 "2006-04-20T15:35:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-how-many-pairs-of-flip-flops/353482/41 "2006-04-20T19:53:22Z")
> [@chaoticbear](#): > > Male, 19, and I have 5 pairs. I’m on the lookout for some black leather ones, though. (I have brown leather ones, but no black ones!) > > Also, you don’t make noise if you can walk correctly in them. I can go silently up and down stairs, even. allow me to introdude you to [these](http://americansole.com/premium-leather-single-layer-black-p-132.html) ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-how-many-pairs-of-flip-flops/353482/42 "2006-04-20T19:55:16Z")
> [@whole bean](#): > > allow me to introdude you to [these](http://americansole.com/premium-leather-single-layer-black-p-132.html) introduce . . . though I guess introdude works on another level ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-how-many-pairs-of-flip-flops/353482/43 "2006-04-20T19:58:29Z")
I haven’t owned a pair of flip-flops since I was 5 (20 now, female). I never found them comfortable. ---
**Author:** ![Flipshod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f19dbf/32.png) [@Flipshod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flipshod)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-how-many-pairs-of-flip-flops/353482/44 "2006-04-20T20:18:10Z")
Two pairs here. But worn as often as possible. Hence my name. Flipshod ---
**Author:** ![Cyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@Cyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyn)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-how-many-pairs-of-flip-flops/353482/45 "2006-04-20T20:31:32Z")
43, female, California born and raised, 14 or so pairs. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-how-many-pairs-of-flip-flops/353482/46 "2006-04-20T20:37:07Z")
Man, you guys are all over the map! But don’t for a moment think that I am going to allow your nasty facts to alter my preconceptions. “formal wear?!” Love it! And WTF are “kitten heels”? Always get a kick out of attending events at the kids’ HS - concerts, award ceremonies, and the like, where it generally seems like the girls who tried to dress in the most slutty style, didn’t bother figuring out how to walk in their chosen footwear. Whether flipflops, clogs, or high heels, nothing completes a look like the clomp, flap, stumble as they make their way across the stage and up and down the stairs! Only thing needed to complete the look is a nice wad of gum, preferably masticated slackjawed. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-how-many-pairs-of-flip-flops/353482/47 "2006-04-20T20:48:47Z")
I’m a 56-year old guy, and I have no flip-flops. I’ve tried them a few times, but my feet just don’t work in 'em. I step off the sides, or kick them off in mid-stride. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-how-many-pairs-of-flip-flops/353482/48 "2006-04-20T21:17:29Z")
I think there is some confusion… To me thongs=flip flops=those cheap foam/plastic 2 for 5$ things… Alot of people are describing things that I would classify as sandals atleast. Heels on flip flops? WTF. Is ‘thong’ used to denote any type of shoe that has the y-shaped strap? ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-how-many-pairs-of-flip-flops/353482/49 "2006-04-20T21:30:50Z")
When I was a kid growing up in the 70s, all you could get were the cheapy rubber sandals with the y-shaped strap, and we called them 'thongs." You bought them at the grocery store or at K-Mart or places like that. They were white, and the side of the sandal and the straps were colored. They were all exactly the same, other than a few color choices, and everyone wore them at the beach and the pool. A fashion statement they were _not._ Somewhere around the time I was a teen or in my early 20s maybe, they got really trendy and stylish, became ‘flip-flops’ and thongs became the underwear that went in your butt. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-how-many-pairs-of-flip-flops/353482/50 "2006-04-20T21:49:09Z")
> [@Neurotik](#): > > I would just like to say that these jokes are really funny to me because, generally speaking, thongs are a style of panties here. What do Australians call underwear with the thin little strap that goes up the buttcrack? I’ll let BiblioCat answer for me: > [@](#): > > When I was a kid growing up in the 70s, all you could get were the cheapy rubber sandals with the y-shaped strap, and we called them 'thongs." You bought them at the grocery store or at K-Mart or places like that. They were white, and the side of the sandal and the straps were colored. They were all exactly the same, other than a few color choices, and everyone wore them at the beach and the pool. A fashion statement they were not. > > Somewhere around the time I was a teen or in my early 20s maybe, they got really trendy and stylish, became ‘flip-flops’ and thongs became the underwear that went in your butt. That’s an answer from Baltimore that broadly applies to Australia. I still wear the cheap, daggy 1970s ones (you can find them if you look hard enough). They are still called thongs. Butt-floss underwear articles are also called thongs. This is possible because, believe it or not, the words are used by different groups of people. I doubt most 21st century pretty young things here would have ever worn the footwear variety, and most beer-gutted middle-aged blokes aren’t about to wear G-strings. I think they’re called flip-flops here sometimes, but I’m not sure. I call them thongs, because that’s what I grew up with. They’re normally sold outside Chinese shops in a bucket with $2 scrawled on a piece of paper, so I can’t be sure exactly what everyone else calls them. To confuse the issue further, the New Zealanders call them ‘jandals’. I call the underwear G-strings. Most people under about thirty say ‘thong’. Confused? I am. ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-how-many-pairs-of-flip-flops/353482/51 "2006-04-20T21:59:56Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > And WTF are “kitten heels”? These are [kitten heels](http://www.havaianasus.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=0_2&products_id=14), just what they sound like, little baby heels. And [these](http://www.havaianasus.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=0_2&products_id=12&osCsid=b57032ac59a6603ba180578c0ba339fe) are heeled wedge flip flops. They’re both still basic cheap plastic shoes but they have slightly different soles. BTW, both of these are my favorite brand from Brazil. They’re a little more expensive than regular flip flops but they’re a much nicer rubber that wears better and is more comfortable than the cheap foam most flip flops are made of. They’re also less slippery when wet. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-how-many-pairs-of-flip-flops/353482/52 "2006-04-20T22:32:20Z")
> [@yellowval](#): > > Oh yeah, I’m a girl too. Though you might have guessed that because not too many guys wear kitten heels. \ ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-how-many-pairs-of-flip-flops/353482/53 "2006-04-20T22:34:43Z")
Old Navy sells HAVAIANAS which is a Brazilian take on the flip flops you find in Hawaii. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-how-many-pairs-of-flip-flops/353482/54 "2006-04-20T22:54:16Z")
> [@ouryL](#): > > Old Navy sells HAVAIANAS which is a Brazilian take on the flip flops you find in Hawaii. 😛 I wish Old Navy sold Havainas but they don’t that I’ve seen (at least not here or online). Target sold them one year about three years back and that’s where my ancient “good” pair comes from. I need a new pair and my Target Havainas pair has outlasted three different pairs of Old Navy flip flops. The rubber of the Havaianas is different from the foam of the Old Navy flip flips; it’s denser and stays springy and uncompacted. ---
**Author:** ![Tamryne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@Tamryne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamryne)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-how-many-pairs-of-flip-flops/353482/55 "2006-04-20T23:23:50Z")
I have 4 pairs of flip flops in my dorm room right now, a pair in my car, and 7 or so more at my parents house. So 12 altogether. Although, at 2 for $5 I have a few colors in mind I wouldnt mind buying! 18 yr old college girl. Its so much easier to just slide on flip flops and go, especially when you are chronically running late like I do! ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-how-many-pairs-of-flip-flops/353482/56 "2006-04-20T23:33:20Z")
Female, 29, zero pairs. I have nothing against them, but my feet weren’t designed to wear them. Either they have that bit that goes between your toes, which then cuts that skin open and instantly becomes infected, or they don’t and I keep walking out of them. I own two pairs of sandals (that strap around the back of my feet) instead. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-how-many-pairs-of-flip-flops/353482/57 "2006-04-21T09:19:16Z")
I’m 36, female, and I have eight pairs. Some have rhinestones, one has Hello Kitty, a couple are plain, and one is made like those Dr. Scholls but no wooden bottoms. I probably wouldn’t have so many but my 16 year old daughter and I share shoes. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-how-many-pairs-of-flip-flops/353482/58 "2006-04-21T09:58:10Z")
Female, 36, zero zero zero. I hate any and all footwear that doesn’t have a strap over the heel since the damn things FALL OFF me constantly and make my toes ache from keeping them on. I think the last time I wore anything in that line was probably \>20 years ago /old fogey ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-how-many-pairs-of-flip-flops/353482/59 "2006-04-21T09:59:50Z")
> [@TheLoadedDog](#): > > I think they’re called flip-flops here sometimes, but I’m not sure. I call them thongs, because that’s what I grew up with. They’re normally sold outside Chinese shops in a bucket with $2 scrawled on a piece of paper, so I can’t be sure exactly what everyone else calls them. To confuse the issue further, the New Zealanders call them ‘jandals’. Yes they are called jandals. Some clever Kiwi blike went to Japan, saw the popular “thong” type footwear, he bought it home and married its name with the sandal and named it the Jandal. I LIVED in jandals as a kid. Now they irritate my toes. I am not a jandal owner but I am proud that I live in a country where that item of footwear is not named after undies or a sound 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Who\_me\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/958977/32.png) [@Who\_me\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Who_me_1)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-how-many-pairs-of-flip-flops/353482/60 "2006-04-21T13:45:50Z")
48 male, none. I believe the last time I owned a pair, I was 10. I didn’t wear them, thus I never got any more. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-how-many-pairs-of-flip-flops/353482.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-how-many-pairs-of-flip-flops/353482.md?page=4)