Tenny Runners (tennis shoes) (1965)

[Wilson Gray]

When and where I was a kid, "tennis shoes" were definitely boys'
apparel. I have no idea what girls' tennis shoes were called. In fact,
I can't even remember whether similar footware for girls even existed.
I think that girls and women wore sandals when the weather became warm
enough for boys to wear tennis shoes. Men also wore sandals, but not
boys. Remember the "little old lady in tennis shoes"? My
interpretation of that phrase has always been that little old ladies
wore tennis shoes only because their feet had been deformed by years
of wearing high heels and other women's shoe styles in their youth, to
the extent that regular shoes were too uncomfortable for them to wear.

-Wilson

On 9/22/06, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Tenny Runners (tennis shoes) (1965)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> >On Sep 22, 2006, at 11:50 AM, i wrote:
> >
> >>... my ozzie son-in-law reports
> >
> >i meant "aussie".  pronounced "ozzie".
> >
> >arnold
>
> so he's just a half-Nelson.
>
> LH
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


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