Amusing Rant on Flip Flops

[gustava]

Duggarettes Take Notice: You're ruining your feet!

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/a_fi ... _slob.html

[August]

In about half an hour I'm going out wearing mine. I'll take great joy in knowing my choice of cool, sort footwear is irritating some idiot in the crowd.

[littlemommy]

I have two small children and getting them ready to go anywhere is like fighting a small war. At the end of the skirmish, when the front door is ready to be opened, I enjoy sliding my feet into sandals or flip flops. So easy! So comfortable when also knocked up!

[OnceModestTwiceShy]

“If the foot is too flat on the ground, there’s a clawing effect that happens with the toes.â€

This is exactly my issue with flip-flops. I feel like my toes get tired. I can also relate to not liking the rubber wedged between the toes. Still, I can't work up enough fucks to give about what people wear or don't wear on their feet. Too much other stuff makes me rage on a daily basis! :lol: I also went to a crunchy hippie school where kids go barefoot year-round, so I'm used to it. And I regularly horrify my Russian mother and grandma by refusing to wear slippers at home. (There is a huge obsession with THE FLOOR being the dirtiest thing in the world in Russian culture. Also drafts. Drafts from windows WILL KILL YOU. :lol:)

Slate is on a kick lately of writing super judgmental articles about every relatively benign thing anyone does. It's getting toxic over there.

[gustava]

“If the foot is too flat on the ground, there’s a clawing effect that happens with the toes.â€

This is exactly my issue with flip-flops. I feel like my toes get tired. I can also relate to not liking the rubber wedged between the toes. Still, I can't work up enough fucks to give about what people wear or don't wear on their feet. Too much other stuff makes me rage on a daily basis! :lol: I also went to a crunchy hippie school where kids go barefoot year-round, so I'm used to it. And I regularly horrify my Russian mother and grandma by refusing to wear slippers at home. (There is a huge obsession with THE FLOOR being the dirtiest thing in the world in Russian culture. Also drafts. Drafts from windows WILL KILL YOU. :lol:)

Slate is on a kick lately of writing super judgmental articles about every relatively benign thing anyone does. It's getting toxic over there.

I was recently in Russia with my step-daughter, who had lived there for several years. She was absolutely, truly horrified that I picked coins off the ground, but in the US I always pick up pennies. Then, when I leaned down and touched the beautiful floors in the Hermitage, I thought she'd faint!

[PopRox]

Just don't wear them with socks. Or while processing chickens.

[TheJewAmongUs]

They're just training to be barefoot and pregnant.

“Mother Nature knew that when your foot hit the ground it needed to be a loose bag of bones; then when you push off it converts to a rigid lever. Shoes are really a timing device that manages the transition between those two states.â€

With the ordinary flip-flop, he continued, the “bag of bones†stage of the step lasts too long, leaving the foot in the pronated (inwardly rolled) position. (This would explain why flip-flop soles tend to wear out from the inside edge first, and why people walking in them often seem to have inwardly collapsing ankles.)

[desertvixen]

In about half an hour I'm going out wearing mine. I'll take great joy in knowing my choice of cool, sort footwear is irritating some idiot in the crowd.

Wearing mine right now, like I will be every minute of the summer left until I go on my fabulous all-expenses paid vacation to Afghanistan that I am NOT wearing my combat boots, heels, or going barefoot.

[Sobeknofret]

I wear mine everyday, when I'm not completely barefoot. Love flip-flops-- in their proper setting. Processing chickens and hiking do not constitute a proper setting.

[ADoyle90815]

I'm also going to be wearing flip flops today, but then again, I'm going to be at a pool, not hiking or processing chickens.

[Hane]

Another here who could give two fucks as long as people keep themselves and their littles safe.

I had to give up flip-flops several years ago. My feet started hurting so badly once sandal season launched that I could hardly walk and went to the orthopedist, fearing I had arthritis. I learned that I had minor heel spurs. Wearing sandals with a slightly elevated heel and arch supports made the problem go away. The doc told me that he saw tons of people with my problem as soon as the weather got hot.

[Just_Jane]

I don't like flip flops so I wear sandals. I feel like i have to grip with my toes to keep flip flops on my feet. Plus I don't like anything between my toes; don't get me started on toe socks. I also really hate the slapping sound they often make. I don't judge others for wearing them.

[FiddleDD]

Amusing, but untrue.

http://nymag.com/health/features/46213/

There have been times in my mother's life where her feet were in so much pain she could wear nothing BUT flip flops. She just has terrible feet. I don't have her bunions, but I do have a terrible time buying shoes due to the genetics I inherited. I've finally found a brand I can wear, and the price is hefty. I pay it, because they're attractive as well as comfortable, but I'd still rather be barefoot.

[Avalondaughter]

I am another anti flip flop. I wear sandals with some arch support when not in flip flops. I'm at the age where my feet are starting to suffer the wear and tear of decades of intense activity. There are plenty of sandals with arch support that I can easily slip in and out of.

The lack of hygiene is something I never thought about before, so I'm almost sorry I read this. Now I'll never look at someone's feet in flip flops the same way again. Ewwwwwwwww

[ems]

Duggarettes Take Notice: You're ruining your feet!

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/a_fi ... _slob.html

This always reminds me of all of the modesty discussions on here about policing other people's clothing choices so you won't "stumble." It's the same kind of attitude essentially, and my reaction is the same:

If you don't want to look at my feet in flip flops, whether it's because you have a foot fetish or find feet gross, then you may kindly look away.

[ems]

Upon reading the article further:

yeah, my original reaction still stands. While I wouldn't go so far as to actually take off my shoes on a city train, I did wear flip flops walking to and from my internship to the metro last summer, because for me it was the most comfortable and practical thing for walking in when I was wearing heals or some other uncomfortable woman's shoe the rest of the day.

So this author can suck it, and by it I mean my big toe :P.

[MrMattyMatt]

I wear them nearly every day!

[gypsygirl22]

I'm just the occasional flip flop wearer, only on the hottest of summer days.

[bananacat]

Ugh, I hate flip flop snobs almost as much as I hate people wearing them inappropriately. Look flip flops are fine. They have no arch support, but neither do any trendy flats either. I wore them frequently in college, then switched to closed-toe flats when I started working. I still wear flip flops pretty often and feel no need to justify it to anyone, just like I don't have to justify wearing other shoes that are bad for my feet.

The real problem with fundies is that they wear flip flops at all times, even when it is unsafe, like hiking, laying tile, or butchering chickens. That's the real problem here, not just that they wear flip flops at all. Often the flip flops are only part of the safety hazard. I think it was Jana who was remodeling the Bateses' bathroom with long flowing hair not tied back, and a long flowing skirt. Both of those are huge risks with power tools, even with the right footwear.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Just don't wear them with socks. Or while processing chickens.

Traditional Japanese "socks" (足袋=tabi) have the large toe split off, so that you can wear traditional shoes which are pretty much flip flops. They range from the super fancy to wooden clunkers to modern "flip flop" style.

Makes me wonder if there are socks with the big toe separate in the US. However I remember socks in the US with ALL toes separated out like gloves for the feet, they came in rainbow even. Now imagine wearing THOSE babies with some flip-flops!

They'd have to be those ones popular in Hawaii with the textured rubber sole, stripes around the side, and a grossgrain ribbon thong part, have to get the super fat sole ones with the full rainbow on the side, yeah...

...just imagine what that writer would think then!

Aside from flip flops the other "I'm just going out in the yard"/"I'm just running down to the corner store" junky shoe was another sort of wooden soled thing but without a toe split, just one band that goes across the whole foot. Loved by housewives all over. I see shoes of that sort now made by Adidas out of rubber... similarly good slumming shoes. Those you wear with regular socks. Fashionable? No.

Personally I don't wear flip flops for other than the "just stepping out for a minute" but I see plenty of fashionable ones out there. Just don't do dangerous activities in them and it's all fine by me.

[Chasingthedog]

i just can't imagine giving a fuck about what people wear on their feet to write a whole damn article about. Who give a fuck? Seriously.

[AuntCloud]

And I regularly horrify my Russian mother and grandma by refusing to wear slippers at home. (There is a huge obsession with THE FLOOR being the dirtiest thing in the world in Russian culture. Also drafts. Drafts from windows WILL KILL YOU. :lol:)

No no no, walking on a cold floor will chill your uterus and ovaries. I swear I heard this from my Russian grandma. But drafts were also very dangerous, especially in the freezing tundra that is Israel. I rebelled by walking barefoot and not drinking scalding hot tea first thing in the morning.

[NurseNell]

I can't wear flip flops. I tried them once and ended up with cellulitis in one foot because the space between my big toe and the one next to it got so irritated. 3 days of bedrest with my foot elevated and 10 days of antibiotics. No thank you, not doing that again.

Today there were 2 very young girls on a scooter behind me. I don't know how old you need to be to drive a scooter but the driver sure didn't look old enough to drive. They were both wearing flip flops, and neither was wearing a helmet. They almost rear ended my car because I stop for stop signs. I wonder if they got to their destination without an injury.

[OkToBeTakei]

I'm fairly attached to my Fitflops. Absolute load of crap they give you a work out just by wearing them, but they are comfortable and I have a pair for just about all my Summer needs. I never let my child wear them. Not really sure why, except I was brought up always having my feet measured and shoes fitted properly in a shoe shop and just carried on doing that, even trainers. So flip flops would not have entered my head. Crocs for some reason slipped that net, probably because my kid is never done being in and out of the house at the park or in the garden of my or my neighbours houses in the Summer. Those things get thrown in the washing machine at night.

I took my child to the doctor age 4. I felt her right foot was not quite right, slightly collapsed inward when looking from behind. It does have a name. Off to orthopaedics we went where we were given the option of the plastic shoe inserts I see a lot of now that support the heel/ankle. OR to let her run around a lot barefoot especially in sand and buy good fitting Startrite shoes which tend to be built higher at the back by design. As it was summer we went with the natural path. The thought being the muscles strengthening themselves is a far better option. She was discharged from the clinic after 18 months. Neither were a cost issue (NHS.) Watch and see does not seem a very popular path for a lot of things now I notice.

On the Russian draft thing. My Mother was not allowed to wash her hair when she had her period. She actually has no idea why. I wonder what they thought would happen?

[Peas n carrots]

Flipflops are terrible for my feet. I've had plantar faciitis issues, and I need to have a lot of support. I wear Toms quite often but with inserts, which isnt something you can do with flipflips.