Listen up, boys! | 102 comments (102 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Listen up, boys! (4.00 / 4)

That's not just the City of London. The politicians over there seem to wear that outfit, too. It's weird-looking (plain suit, plain shirt, plain tie? really?).

I'm not terribly familiar with the whole Birkenstock thing. Being from Florida, everybody always wore flip-flops. It's not that flip-flops have some great cultural significance. Sandals are supposed to be simple shoes you slip on and go on your way. It's not that Birks have teh ghey that would keep me away from them. It's that the designs are goofy-looking and they cost more than I've ever spent on an entire business outfit (suit, shirt, socks, and tie), whereas flip-flops are simple and can be had for ten or twenty bucks -- depending on what they're made of -- at any clothing store in the country.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

by Drew J Jones (pedobear@pennstatefootball.com) on Sun Jan 31st, 2010 at 08:42:51 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Listen up, boys! (4.00 / 3)

I'm not terribly familiar with the whole Birkenstock thing. Being from Florida, everybody always wore flip-flops. It's not that flip-flops have some great cultural significance.

O my gawd, gag me with a spoon! You're not seriously equating birkenstocks with flip-flops?

Valley girls wear flip-flops. Girls in Newport Beach and Venice Beach and Santa Monica and English girls out in the snow in London wear flip-flops. Maybe the Great Birkenstock/Flip-Flop divide isn't important in Florid'oh, but it is in California.

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Jan 31st, 2010 at 09:11:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]

LOL (4.00 / 6)

I am equating them! Birkenstocks are bizarre, overpriced flip-flops for people who don't want to be accused of wearing flip-flops.

Don't bring English girls into this. That's not fair. English girls will wear anything, so long as it's wholly inappropriate to the weather. These are the girls who wear short skirts and tights, looking like they just got thrown out of the making of some '80s new wave music video, when it's 22F outside.

And you lived in Gullyvornyah. Gullyvornyah is a whole different ballgame from Florida. It's earthquakes vs hurricanes, culturally. They take fashion seriously out there, whereas the only people who care in Florida are the New Yorkers and the girls on South Beach who wish they were living in Los Angeles.

Flip-flops are the ramshackle shoe of the people in Florida, my friend.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

by Drew J Jones (pedobear@pennstatefootball.com) on Sun Jan 31st, 2010 at 09:23:40 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: LOL (none / 1)

the girls on South Beach who wish they were living in Los Angeles

Wait, if I can't bring up English girls you can't bring up the ones from South Beach.

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Jan 31st, 2010 at 09:48:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: LOL (none / 1)

Birkenstocks are functionally different from flip-flops.

Flip-flops can get wet, Birks can't.
Flip-flops flip and flop around your feet, while Birks mold to your foot much more carefully.
Birks usually have more stuff on top to keep them on, flip-flops don't.
Flip-flops are cute and trendy, Birks are hippie-wear. Except in Japan, where night is day.

My arch is incredibly high, so I can't wear flip-flops. They just fall off. But Birk-clones are no problem.

by Zwackus on Mon Feb 1st, 2010 at 02:52:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: LOL (none / 0)

I had to image-search for both... but indeed I find the equation of the two strange, especially because of the water. As for more local cultural associations: in Germany (at least around Frankfurt), birkenstocks were somehow associated with old people. Not so in Hungary (though that may have changed since -- I rarely see them on young people in the summer, flip-flops spread here too).

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Mon Feb 1st, 2010 at 03:19:49 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Listen up, boys! (none / 0)

By the way, any assistance googling newspaper stories from last December's blizzard illustrating

English girls out in the snow in London wear flip-flops

would be appreciated. I just can't find the keywords to coerce google to spit those up.

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Jan 31st, 2010 at 09:24:44 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Listen up, boys! (4.00 / 2)

It's not that Birks have teh ghey

Oh, and I didn't even go into what gay panic means for the unspoken dress code for the average American male.

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Jan 31st, 2010 at 09:14:32 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Listen up, boys! (none / 0)

flip-flops are simple and can be had for ten or twenty bucks -- depending on what they're made of

Uh, that's expensive. The flip-flops I wear between the locker room and the tatami when I go to karate class cost me €2 at a local supermarket.

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Jan 31st, 2010 at 09:57:15 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Listen up, boys! (4.00 / 6)

€2 is, like, $60. What are you on about?

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

by Drew J Jones (pedobear@pennstatefootball.com) on Sun Jan 31st, 2010 at 10:30:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Listen up, boys! (4.00 / 7)

zOMG, Drew is posting news from the future!

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Jan 31st, 2010 at 10:51:32 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Listen up, boys! (4.00 / 10)

I can't tell you how proud I am that you guys have created a shoe blogging sub-thread... <wipes tear from eye>...

Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes

by Izzy (izzy at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Jan 31st, 2010 at 01:39:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Listen up, boys! | 102 comments (102 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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