[Ads-l] 2 new (British) words: webs and trabs

[Andy Bach]

On Wed, Dec 20, 2017 at 6:54 AM, Amy West <medievalist at w-sts.com> wrote:
> If BE stands here for "British English", there's no possibly about it:
it's a definite. I've seen an English friend use "plimsoles" (I think she
spelled it with an -e) in her correspondence. (Which caused all of her
North American friends to scratch their heads.)

Yes and yeah, that was my typo, though WikiP says:
A *plimsoll shoe*, *plimsoll*, *plimsole* or *pumps* (British English
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_English>; see other names below
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plimsoll_shoe#Outside_the_United_Kingdom>)
is a type of athletic shoe <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletic_shoe> with
a canvas upper and rubber sole
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoe#Shoe_construction> developed as
beachwear in the 1830s by the Liverpool Rubber Company
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunlop_Rubber>.

Plimsolls had solid rubber soles about 8 or 9mm thick, to which the canvas
was glued without coming up the sides (as on trainers). The effect when
running was similar to running without shoes.

The shoe was originally, and often still is in parts of the United Kingdom
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom>, called a "sand shoe" and
acquired the nickname "plimsoll" in the 1870s. This name derived, according
to Nicholette Jones's book *The Plimsoll Sensation*, because the coloured
horizontal band joining the upper to the sole resembled the Plimsoll line
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterline> on a ship's hull, or because,
just like the Plimsoll line on a ship, if water got above the line of the
rubber sole, the wearer would get wet.

In the UK plimsolls are commonly worn for schools' indoor physical education
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_education> lessons. Regional terms
are common: in Northern Ireland
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Ireland> and central Scotland
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotland> they are sometimes known as *gutties
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutta-percha>*; "sannies" (from 'sand shoe')
is also used in Scotland.[2]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plimsoll_shoe#cite_note-2> In parts of the West
Country <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Country> and Wales
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Wales> they are known as "daps" or
"dappers". In London, the home counties
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_counties>, much of the West Midlands
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Midlands_(region)>, the West Riding of
Yorkshire <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Riding_of_Yorkshire> and
north west of England they are known as "pumps".[3]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plimsoll_shoe#cite_note-3> There is a
widespread belief that "daps" is taken from a factory sign – "Dunlop
Athletic Plimsoles" which was called "the DAP factory". However, this seems
unlikely as the first citation in the *Oxford English Dictionary
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary>* of "dap" for a
rubber soled shoe is a March 1924 use in the *Western Daily Press
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Daily_Press>* newspaper; Dunlop did
not acquire the Liverpool Rubber Company (as part of the merger with the
Macintosh group of companies) until 1925. Plimsolls were issued to the
British military (called 'road slappers' by the common soldiery) until
replaced by trainers in the mid-80's.

The "possibly" was due to that articles uncertainty as to whether the shoes
referred to as "plimsoles" were the same as "gym shoes" and sneakers or
some other sort of shoe.

Jeff Beck has a song "Rock my Plimsoul" (on "Truth") and I always wondered
what that was about - Now a "Plimsoul" is a guitar effects pedal, named
after the song.


On Wed, Dec 20, 2017 at 6:54 AM, Amy West <medievalist at w-sts.com> wrote:

> On 12/20/17 12:00 AM, ADS-L automatic digest system wrote:
>
>> and, apparently, BE has "daps" and, possibly, "plimsols".
>>
>
> If BE stands here for "British English", there's no possibly about it:
> it's a definite. I've seen an English friend use "plimsoles" (I think she
> spelled it with an -e) in her correspondence. (Which caused all of her
> North American friends to scratch their heads.)
>
> ---Amy West
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



-- 

a

Andy Bach,
afbach at gmail.com
608 658-1890 cell
608 261-5738 wk

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org