galoshes and rubbers and overshoes, oh my

[Alice Faber]

On 6/7/12 1:34 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> I too learned "galoshes" from my parents (NYC). Despite the OED's
> (weaselly?) punt to another authority: "'Rare in U.S.' (Cent. Dict.)".
>
> "Overshoes" is not in my native vocabulary.
>
> Does anyone besides me associate "rubbers" with ankle-height and
> "galoshes" with something more like boots? Curiously, the earliest
> quotation in the OED for "rubbers" (s.v. "rubber, n.1", sense 14) is:

Rubbers are definitely shoe-height (not even ankle-height). Galoshes are
higher, and have a zipper. In between, there are rain boots, which have
a gusset and a loop closure of some sort. Rain boots can be clear-ish,
while rubbers are black; galoshes are mostly black, but can be colorful.

(NY suburbs mid-1950s through late 1960s)

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