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Tennis shoes? Really?
- Thread starter Deleted member 1726
- Start date
Always been Tennis Shoes for me here in Colorado. I thought they were called Tennis Shoes because the rubber on the bottom doesn't cause black streaks on the courts. I know on some Tennis courts they don't allow you to use anything else but Tennis Shoes.
As someone in Michigan this always got me because sneakers and tennis shoes aren't the same thing though a lot of sneakers have adopted the non-scuffing soles and other features of tennis shoes but yeah I've just called them shoes. Maybe more common catch-all term among older generations that continues on like the Coke thing in the South.
I feel like I've posted this a million times before, but the NY Times did this better years ago:
(it's actually from the same author but interactive and at least for me it is accurate to the nearest city, not just region)
(it's actually from the same author but interactive and at least for me it is accurate to the nearest city, not just region)
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I always called them sneakers or "Tinnie" (in stead of tennis shoes.
(Born on the US East coast, grew up in the south.)
I don't know where I got this from.
(Born on the US East coast, grew up in the south.)
I don't know where I got this from.
That's just a British term that British people abandoned when Americans started using it.
And yeah, it's always tennis shoes. Sneakers sometimes, especially in the phrase "sneaker-head"
They are trained for combat and high stress situations. In those situations there is no time to be wasted on deciphering communications so everyone uses the same terminology for things so that nomenclature is not an issue. They're not doing that shit for laughs.
are y'all seriously telling me all y'all freaks outside south florida and the northeast calls them tennis shoes
i've been calling them jimmies since the day i was born and i'll call them jimmies until i die
Trainers is what we call them in the UK, and always have.
But hold on, if you call all of them Tennis shoes, what do you call Tennis shoes (trainers that are specifically designed for Tennis)?
(Although to be fair I refer to my specific running shoes as trainers too, I guess. That means you guys call running shoes, Tennis shoes) :D
(And what the fuck do you call a pair of Air Jordan's? :D )
I was born and raised in NJ and it's always been my understanding that plain white athletic shoes with laces are tennis shoes. And you also have running shoes, basketball shoes, skateboarding shoes, etc. But the catch-all term is sneakers.
Here's the UK version
Huh. In South Africa one name is 'tekkies'. I wonder what the relation to the Scottish version is.
You'll notice the Bay Area and SoCal are enclaves of 'water fountain' usage. I grew up in the Central Valley and we definitely said drinking fountain.
I just tried to think of a scenario where I'd say it. "My feet hurt, I should put on tennis shoes instead of flip flops"
Yep, checks out.
Yep, checks out.