My west coast brother has told me that today is "National Sneakers Day." I'm not sure if this refers to sneaky people or comfy shoes. For the sake of keeping this a happy blog I'll focus on comfy shoes.
And I do know about comfy shoes. The shoes that I wear almost every day are Easy Spirit slip-ons or step-ins or whatever you want to call shoes that are easy on and off. But I'm not sure if they qualify as sneakers. They are great for walking but not at all good for running. Wikipedia says that sneakers are primarily designed for sports and other physical activities.
But why are they called sneakers? Why not trainers like in the UK?
Again according to Wikipedia, sneakers (rubber soled shoes) were first introduced in England in 1860 and where they were called plimsolls. Eventually they were introduce in the US where boys started calling them sneakers because the rubber soles were so much quieter to walk in than the traditional leather soled shoes.
I know this is true. We have a slate floor in my church and when I wear leather soled shoes I'm always surprised at how noisy they are.
I think that the next time I go to my favorite shoe store I'll ask if they have any plimsolls. It seems like a friendlier sounding name for shoes than sneakers. There is one clerk there who will probably know what I'm talking about. She looks to be about my age.
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