People on the mainland have a thing about rubber slippers, a general dislike that borders on bias. It starts with their refusal to call them rubber slippers, insisting instead on the pejorative term "flip-flops." Just from that name, you can tell they don’t trust them.
According to the haters, slippers are dirty, dangerous and bordering on lewd. The latest angle is that rubber slippers are no longer acceptable to wear to the beach or the pool. Instead, you’re supposed to buy "water shoes" — rubber-soled, mesh booties that might as well be called "sand sacks" because just a short walk across to the water collects about a pound of beach in each side.
I understand "water shoes" for rock fishing or reef walking, even for hiking across a wide swath of hot sand. But some mainland schools are now requiring closed-toe footwear for the end-of-year sprinkler and water-balloon party because slippers are deemed too dangerous. A toe might get stubbed, which is somehow seen as more dangerous than taking a full-body splat on a wet sidewalk in those big dorky shoes.
With the onset of summer comes a barrage of online articles warning about the dangers of slipper-wearing.
One story that made the rounds stated that flip-flops can cause stress fractures in foot bones.
"These are not shoes that we should be wearing from 8 in the morning to 8 at night," New York City podiatrist Jackie Sutera was quoted as saying. She called slippers "those terrible shoes."
Another article suggested that if you are determined to wear slippers, you should at least spend some money on fancy ones.
"You shouldn’t be able to bend the flip-flop in half — that’s your first clue that it won’t provide enough support," the article states, thus calling into question each of the 49 pairs of slippers currently on your back porch.
A study by the University of Miami from a few years back is again being cited. Those researchers reportedly found that a single pair of flip-flops can harbor thousands of bacteria. (Read the article online at http://is.gd/flipflops.) Of course, so can a pair of closed-toed shoes, but then your actual toe skin doesn’t get as close to the germs, I guess. Of course, how dirty your footwear gets depends on WHERE YOU WALK, right?!
Those who grew up wearing slippers, who have used them as brakes to stop bikes and skateboards (and even cars, like Fred Flintstone), who have killed monster roaches with them, stamped out little fires with them, took those first post-surgery steps in the hospital in them, who can run across slippery boat decks and hot asphalt and a mile of sand in their trusty $2.99 rubber slippers, know that the safety of the slippered foot lies mostly with the skill of the wearer.
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Reach Lee Cataluna at lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.
