Tenny Runners (tennis shoes) (1965)

[Jonathan Lighter]

"Sneakers" (not to mention "sneaks") must have begun as slang: the rubber soles were conducive to sneaking.

  By my day, however, it was a neutral and perfectly standard designator.

  "Running shoes," BTW, were an epiphenomenon of the jogging craze of the '70s. And in line with what Page said, "tennis shoes" seemed to be used only by girls and women, unless referring literally to tennis-wear (which boys generally didn't refer to).

  JL

FRITZ JUENGLING <juengling_fritz at SALKEIZ.K12.OR.US> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: FRITZ JUENGLING
Subject: Re: Tenny Runners (tennis shoes) (1965)
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'Sneakers' was already an outdated, even comical, term by the time I was
wearing them. I'm 43/Portland, Oregon.

Always "Tinna Shoes" It was one of those epiphany moments when I one
day realised it was 'Tennis Shoes."

Fritz J

>>> zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU 9/22/2006 7:27 AM >>>
On Sep 21, 2006, at 11:12 PM, Barry Popik wrote:

"sneakers" was the
standard term in my youth, but seems to be rarely used by young
people today. in any case, the wikipedia entry for "athletic shoe"
lists:


arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu)

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