# Zōri vs. flip-flops **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 14, 2019, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zori-vs-flip-flops/833949 "2019-05-14T15:37:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zori-vs-flip-flops/833949/21 "2019-05-14T20:52:13Z")
Definitely “slippahs” or “rubbah slippahs” in Hawaii. If you ask for flip-flops, you’ve outed yourself as a mainlander. 😃 And if you ask for zories, you’ll likely be shown traditional straw zori. I’ve never heard it used before or since, but my cousin’s friends from the Philippines called them “poppers”. In the 70’s we also had “kamabuko” or “rainbow slippahs”. Similar to this: [https://www.pinterest.com/pin/490329478150849299/?lp=true](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/490329478150849299/?lp=true), but with more colored layers and much higher, up to 1" plus. And of course, you’re living large if you have Scott slippahs [https://www.zappos.com/p/scott-hawaii-makaha-black/product/7823338/color/3?utm\_term=pla-646169964451&zap\_placement=1o3&utm\_campaign=1435841695&ef\_id=EAIaIQobChMIldGp4fKb4gIVeyCtBh3nuw33EAQYAyABEgKbFfD\_BwE:G:s&utm\_medium=pla\_g&utm\_source=google&utm\_content=24150944](https://www.zappos.com/p/scott-hawaii-makaha-black/product/7823338/color/3?utm_term=pla-646169964451&zap_placement=1o3&utm_campaign=1435841695&ef_id=EAIaIQobChMIldGp4fKb4gIVeyCtBh3nuw33EAQYAyABEgKbFfD_BwE:G:s&utm_medium=pla_g&utm_source=google&utm_content=24150944), made with harder layered rubber and cloth (nylon?) straps. They take a while to wear in (the straps are really tight in the beginning), but compared to regular slippahs, these were prime. Some people even wear them for going out. Too formal for regular slippahs, too informal for covered shoes. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zori-vs-flip-flops/833949/22 "2019-05-14T20:55:30Z")
> [@lingyi](#): > > And of course, you’re living large if you have Scott slippahs [https://www.zappos.com/p/scott-hawaii-makaha-black/product/7823338/color/3?utm\_term=pla-646169964451&zap\_placement=1o3&utm\_campaign=1435841695&ef\_id=EAIaIQobChMIldGp4fKb4gIVeyCtBh3nuw33EAQYAyABEgKbFfD\_BwE:G:s&utm\_medium=pla\_g&utm\_source=google&utm\_content=24150944](https://www.zappos.com/p/scott-hawaii-makaha-black/product/7823338/color/3?utm_term=pla-646169964451&zap_placement=1o3&utm_campaign=1435841695&ef_id=EAIaIQobChMIldGp4fKb4gIVeyCtBh3nuw33EAQYAyABEgKbFfD_BwE:G:s&utm_medium=pla_g&utm_source=google&utm_content=24150944), made with harder layered rubber and cloth straps. Those look like the ones I wear when I’m not wearing the straw zories. I don’t know what brand mine are; Mrs. L.A. bought them for me a few years ago. I bought the similar ones before that from REI. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zori-vs-flip-flops/833949/23 "2019-05-14T21:14:25Z")
I think Scott Hawaii had some kind of patent on the design (two my aunts worked for the company and may have told me) until the '80’s or so, because they were the only ones (at leas in Hawaii) that had that particular design. I have a pair that I haven’t used in years, because I haven’t broken them in yet. But, ahhh…once broken in, they’re heaven to walk in compared to regular rubber slippers. The only downside is they’re heavier and takes a bit more effort to walk in. Also, stay away from the leather topped ones. Your foot slips when they get wet and they absorb foot odor. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zori-vs-flip-flops/833949/24 "2019-05-14T23:17:50Z")
> [@Rough\_Draft](#): > > I grew up in Texas during the 1960s, and we nearly always called them thongs. The rest of the time we referred to them by a racist name that I do not care to repeat in my mature years. > > I never heard them called flip flops until maybe the 1980s, but now it’s ubiquitous. I never heard the term zorie until today. Same here, except I had heard the term “zorie” before. Not commonly, but it was a known noun. Was the racist name “J-F?” I haven’t heard that one in decades, and, as it turns out, from my relatives in Texas. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zori-vs-flip-flops/833949/25 "2019-05-14T23:40:49Z")
My friends and I also called them “zoris” not flip-flops. This was in the late 50s/early 60s. We were military brats living on-base, so maybe it was because there were people around who had lived in Hawaii and/or Japan. ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zori-vs-flip-flops/833949/26 "2019-05-14T23:54:29Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > As a very rough estimate, I’ve heard them called > > Flip flops 98% of the time > > Thongs 2% of the time > > Zori 0% of the time > > But honestly, they aren’t something that I’ve heard much of at all (or worn myself) since the early 1980s. Pretty much Darren nails it for me. Growing up on the Great Plains, I heard thongs 90+% but after reaching the cities and the rest of the country, flip flops dominate. Although in college I did hear them called “shower shoes” fairly frequently even outside of the dorm. But I have until this thread never heard of a zori. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2019, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zori-vs-flip-flops/833949/27 "2019-05-15T00:03:13Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I wore ‘shower shoes’ (which we called ‘zories’ or ‘flip-flops’) when I lived in Lancaster. The goatheads would go right through them. Ouch. Or melt to the street/pavement/parking lot when it was over 100 or so ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2019, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zori-vs-flip-flops/833949/28 "2019-05-15T00:58:16Z")
I just remembered. I recall people calling them rubber zories growing up. These were usually older people who still lived in plantation homes or children who grew up in them. I think my grandparents called them rubber zories, never just zorie or zori. Makes sense since in my mind, proper zori are the traditional straw mat type. Calling them rubber zories as a youngster would get you laughed at though, at least where I grew up which was in Metro Honolulu. It implied that you were a 'country hick", versus being a 'townie" as we were called by them. Yeah, we were jerks as kids! Still, that was as bad as it got. ---
**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 15, 2019, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zori-vs-flip-flops/833949/29 "2019-05-15T01:06:49Z")
My family calls zori, “zori” because we speak in Japanese. 😛 We call flip-flops sandels because “flip-flops” sounds strange in Japanese. Growing up they were “thongs.” ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2019, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zori-vs-flip-flops/833949/30 "2019-05-15T01:20:14Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > Or melt to the street/pavement/parking lot when it was over 100 or so That is why one needs to invest in something (wood, leather, rubber …) beyond the cheapest foam sandals if one is going to walk around town or though thorns wearing them. The cheapest foam ones can get torn even in the shower. > [@lingyi](#): > > Makes sense since in my mind, proper zori are the traditional straw mat type. Are those waraji-type pure straw sandals that popular? The straw mat type sandals I see around still have a rubber or foam sole. ---
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2019, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zori-vs-flip-flops/833949/31 "2019-05-15T01:25:19Z")
Albuquerque in the fifties. We called them thongs. The neighbors across the back wall called them zories. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2019, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zori-vs-flip-flops/833949/32 "2019-05-15T01:32:30Z")
Chicago in the 70’s and we called them zories. ---
**Author:** ![AirFarce1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airfarce1/32/298_2.png) [@AirFarce1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AirFarce1)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2019, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zori-vs-flip-flops/833949/33 "2019-05-15T02:01:12Z")
My kids and I call them zoris after having been stationed in Guam for 5 years. We all have at least four pairs; shower shoes, every day wear, semi-formal, and formal :). I grew up on the border in south Texas, and we called them flip-flops unless they were being thrown (or we were being chased by an angry typically female relative), in which case they were “chankalas.” ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2019, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zori-vs-flip-flops/833949/34 "2019-05-15T02:21:07Z")
50’s kid, San Diego. Zories. Never heard them called anything else by family or friends. No military or Japanese friends or family. But it was San Diego. ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2019, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zori-vs-flip-flops/833949/35 "2019-05-15T02:57:09Z")
I’m amazed by the number of people who called them zories. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2019, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zori-vs-flip-flops/833949/36 "2019-05-15T03:19:13Z")
FWIW: Navy brat, Yokosuka, San Diego, mid-'60s. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2019, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zori-vs-flip-flops/833949/37 "2019-05-15T03:50:00Z")
Another Navy brat who lived at Wahiawa for a couple of years as well as San Diego–I remember “Zoris” being used as a generic term for flip flop-type footwear. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2019, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zori-vs-flip-flops/833949/38 "2019-05-15T04:30:40Z")
My parents called them zoris. New York, not military, not Japanese, 1960s. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2019, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zori-vs-flip-flops/833949/39 "2019-05-15T04:42:14Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > That is why one needs to invest in something (wood, leather, rubber …) beyond the cheapest foam sandals if one is going to walk around town or though thorns wearing them. The cheapest foam ones can get torn even in the shower. > Are those waraji-type pure straw sandals that popular? The straw mat type sandals I see around still have a rubber or foam sole. I haven’t seen waraji zori except as decoration. I don’t remember what type of soles the zori my grandparents had were made of, but since this was the 60’s, I assume rubber. ---
**Author:** ![Newtosite](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/newtosite/32/8623_2.png) [@Newtosite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Newtosite)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2019, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zori-vs-flip-flops/833949/40 "2019-05-15T07:31:27Z")
“Zories” sounds familiar. We also called them “beach walkers” in the 50’s, in LA. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zori-vs-flip-flops/833949.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zori-vs-flip-flops/833949.md?page=3)