On clogs – but not in clogs
I found this ode to clogs years ago in the New Yorker.
I won’t be joining in, though. I’ve never been successful at wearing clogs, although I tried when I was young. They wrecked my feet, I think because I have naturally high insteps. I’m not sure, but for whatever reason, wearing them for more than a few minutes—and actually trying to walk around in them—caused pain. Besides, they weren’t that attractive, although they had a certain cachet.
I remember the first time I ever saw a clog on a human foot other than those wooden shoes on the Dutch in illustrations from children’s books. A friend of mine went off to an artsy college one year before me, and she came back with a micro-miniskirt and suede clogs. The clogs, if I recall correctly, were bright green, which sounds terrible but on her they looked tremendously cool and avant-garde, which they were at the time. No one else had anything of the sort, although not long after that everyone was sporting them (although not in kelly green). As the article says:
Boho-chic crowds of the early nineteen-seventies adopted the clog. The new iteration of the shoe had a leather upper and, often, an exaggerated heel that paired to marvellous effect with hot pants.
(By the way, what’s up with this Britishized spelling of “marvelous” in the New Yorker, of all places? Has New York relocated?)
My friend was nothing if not boho-chic (whatever that means—actually, she was Soho-chic before Soho even existed as a named entity), and she wore them with a miniskirt rather than hot pants, because she wore them years before the early 70s.
Over the years I’ve tried clogs now and then, but never bought another pair. I cannot understand how some people find them comfy. For me, I get the sense that if I were to persist in wearing them I’d end up like the original clog-wearers of Holland:
In the summer of 2011, a team of Dutch archeologists travelled to the village of Middenbeemster, a region best known for its medium-hard white cheese and whose church and adjoining cemetery were being relocated. The group noticed an unusual pattern in the bones of five hundred skeletons, mostly belonging to nineteenth-century Dutch dairy farmers: a preponderance of chips and craters localized in the bones of the feet. Some of the craters were the size of a jellybean, others as large as a piece of Hanukkah gelt, or even a plum. “It was as if chunks of bone had just been chiselled away,” an astonished-sounding Andrea Waters-Rist, Ph.D., one of the group’s co-leaders, said. Her team determined that the micro-traumas were associated with osteochondritis dissecans, a rare type of joint disorder that is linked to overuse or sustained shock. The academics concluded the source to be the rigors of working on the land, and, more specifically, doing so in klompen, the wooden clogs common to Dutch farmers of the time.
Klompen is a great word for them—because that’s what you do in clogs, you clomp.
NOTE: And yes, this post is much ado about nearly nothing. Sometimes you just have to take a short break from heaviness and go light.
maybe it was a vitamin d deficiency
https://anthropology.uwo.ca/people/faculty/Andrea%20Waters%20Rist.html
Aesthetically, the decade was a sewer. Haircuts, shoes, eyewear, pants, tops, all aspects of home decor, graphic arts, automotive design &c. The only good thing was the demise of the beehive hairdo.
“By the way, what’s up with this Britishized spelling of “marvelous” in the New Yorker, of all places? Has New York relocated?”
Trying to be hoity toity. “look how refined I am, I use the British spelling”.
Colour me surprised.
Same thing as incorrectly using the article “an” preceding a word that begins with a hard “h” sound. “An historic occasion”. They think it makes them sound more educated or something, but it actually demonstrates that they don’t know how to speak proper English. The only way that would be correct is if they’re from somewhere that their accent causes the “h” sound to be dropped or truncated. When preceding a word beginning with a consonant sound, the article “a” is correct…even if you think it makes you sound smarter to use the incorrect one.
It drives me nuts because whenever I see it in print, reading it causes my brain to hiccup (or “hiccough” if you want to sound fancy…see above).
“And yes, this post is much ado about nearly nothing.”
Ditto. And there’s not a thing wrong with that.
Shoe fit has long been an issue for me. I was born with a very wide foot and hammer toes on both feet. It’s very hard to find a shoe wide enough, and with a big enough toe box to fit.
Normally, I have to go through a period of breaking the shoe in using liquids and a stretcher to achieve comfort.
While in Hong Kong in 1957, I had two pairs of custom shoes made. They fit perfectly from day one. I was able to get a couple more pairs made in subsequent years, but the cobbler was either absorbed by a new company or went out of business. Back to breaking my shoes in. 🙁
For the last twenty years I have been wearing mostly sandals in the summer and tennis shoes during the cooler months. Both shoe types are easy to break in to fit my odd feet.
Having experienced foot pain from ill-fitting shoes, I can sympathize with the Dutch who had to wear wooden clogs.
My grandfather had a saying. “I want two things really comfortable – my shoes and my bed because I’m in one or the other all the time.” I’ve always worked at achieving those aims. The bed has been more difficult to achieve because, during my time in the Navy and flying for an airline, I had to sleep in a lot of uncomfortable beds. Que sera, sera.
The New Yorker switched to mostly British spelling eons ago under Tina Brown. (Eye roll.) I find it annoying.
I wanted to make sure she was a real researcher, but there are alternate explanations for the finding,
I have high arches, high insteps, and fat feet and a lot of shoes are problem. When clogs came from Scandinavia and were made for Scandinavians. they fit me. But then they started selling more to the US market, and those were narrower clogs that didn’t accommodate my feet as well. I find it hard to find clogs that fit was well as those long ago ones.
I used to see people wearing a sort of clog in the operating rooms. Never tried it. I wore running shoes.
So boho-chic is just a shortened version of bohemian chic.
The one that amused me a couple decades ago, or more, was the euphemism that some author coined, “bobo,” which stands for “bourgeois-bohemian.”
In this case, why not just say bohemian? Two extra syllables? The investor community is particularly bad this way. The one that irks me is when supposedly sophisticated investors say “algo” which is short for algorithm. I’ve heard the word “algorithm” used hundreds of times by people who actually create them, and understand them, and use them; and never once heard “algo” used.
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I have very wide feet that are also what I call squishy. They’re squishy because the front of the foot splays or spreads under pressure. I like a shoe with a lot of “give” to it. I’ve stuck with New Balance “sneakers” (or “trainers” in Brit speak) in the wide or very wide versions for a long time.
Neo
NOTE: And yes, this post is much ado about nearly nothing. Sometimes you just have to take a short break from heaviness and go light.
Except that wooden clogs are rather heavy. 🙂
My childhood memory of wooden shoes came from my grandparents, who one year stopped off in Holland, Michigan on their way east to our house. They brought us a pair of Dutch wooden shoes/clogs. Not the kind that fashionable women wear, with platforms, but a working pair that a Dutch farmer would use. I klomped around in them for a short while outside, and concluded that first use would be my only use of them. How Klompen (Dutch Wooden Shoes) Are Made
My grandparents also brought an aebelskiver pan from Holland, Michigan. We found them tasty, and used the Aebelskiver pan fairly regularly. Most YouTube hits on aebelskivers are Danish, not English. Making aebleskivers with Kim Davaz
TommyJay
I don’t like that “algo” shortening for “algorithm” either, but for an additional reason. “Algo” means “something” in Spanish.
huxley’s ghost asks, what about sabots?
Is a “bobo” smarter than the average bozo?
Not the same as Bobo.
JJ, I had some very tall relatives. A cousin, of my father’s generation, used to order shoes by mail from Lee Kee shoes in Hong Kong. My family was filled with punsters so the name brought many jokes. I wonder if that was your HK supplier.
Kate:
There is a Pink Panther movie spoofing The French Connection which has parts set in Hong Kong and of course, a drug smuggling boat built in the Lee Kee shipyard.
It is very politically incorrect.
I remember that one, with Robert Webber as the French Connection warlord,
Clogs are horrible. Clogging (a strange type of folk dance) is worse.
Crocs are an abomination and a stench unto the nostrils of the LORD.
My left foot, having been run over by a bus, varies in size from a #10 to a 12.5. My right foot, which is stable at a #10.5, is forced to adapt to misfitting shoes with multiple insoles and socks.
Crocs resemble clogs but are most certainly not clogs.
A few years back I was in the ER with the ex. We were in a treatment room, waiting for no apparent reason as one does. Two nurses and a doctor, all women, were in the room making notes and stuff. I noticed all were wearing Crocs.
I spoke, “When did Crocs become the default medical footwear?”
The immediate response from all three, in perfect unison, all with the slightly embarrassed tone of a young woman caught being naughty, “They’re comfortable.” It was a telling answer in more than one way.
One will also see kitchen pros wearing them. They come in all kinds of colors and patterns. I’m quite fond of my fleece-lined pair for cooler weather indoors.
JC, newbalance.com used to split sizes. Not sure if they still do. My ex had one foot size 7 and one size 8.
We have a clog-maker near us, https://svensclogs.com/. My daughter loves them, but my wife has never gotten any.
I have about three pairs, but I rarely wear them these days. When I used to use a stand-up desk at work, they were very comfortable. But they’re not good for walking, for me. My arches start to hurt.
Kate, my shoemaker’s shop name was, as I recall, “No Squeak.” And they didn’t. Unlike a pair of shoes I had made in the PI.
In 1957 Hong Kong had many tailors and cobblers. The tailor I used was “Willie McGee.” You almost couldn’t go wrong no matter what shop you wandered in to. I think I got into No Squeak’s shop because I had taken a rickshaw sightseeing trip and noticed the sign. Just dumb luck. 🙂
I used to see people wearing a sort of clog in the operating rooms. Never tried it. I wore running shoes.
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Proper surgeons of respectable vintage favor white bucks.
Crocs resemble clogs but are most certainly not clogs.
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They should be confiscated and burned.
https://vintagedancer.com/wp-content/uploads/caster-shoes-mens-best.jpg
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Clogs are horrible. Clogging (a strange type of folk dance) is worse.
JC:
I clogged a bit in my folk dancing days. It’s kind of Appalachian tap dancing. I’d like to have gotten to know it better.
Here’s a 1965 video of bluegrass clogging that I’ve watched a number of times. It’s quite popular. It makes my heart soar and hurt at the same time.
–David Hoffman, “The Best Bluegrass Clog Dancing Video. How & Why I Made It”
https://youtu.be/vJB_HGdGfic?t=86
Those who endeavor to besmirch and denigrate crocs have clearly never worn crocs. Anyone that has to be on their feet for long periods of time would love them. They are my preferred shoe in my wood shop. Strong support yet flexible and comfortable.
I dropped one in the bathtub. I’m pretty sure it clogged my drain.
😛
}}} They are my preferred shoe in my wood shop. Strong support yet flexible and comfortable
… And Butt-f***ing ugly as hell. 😛
}}} They should be confiscated and burned.
Nahhh. You should never burn plastics. All kinds of toxins. 😛
}}} I don’t like that “algo” shortening for “algorithm” either, but for an additional reason. “Algo” means “something” in Spanish.
So, “Algo, algo, algo… merde“, then? 😛
Wasn’t there a purported problem with crocs getting caught in escalators at one time?
Also, algo has the distinction of being the inspiration behind the Algore abbreviation. So something good came out of it.
its also the second part of HAL heuristic algorithm, I think I did here something about crocs and escalators,
“Proper surgeons of respectable vintage favor white bucks.”
Have you seen white bucks after a bloody case ? I used to have to wash out my underwear sometimes.
Have you seen white bucks after a bloody case ?
Mike+K:
I’m so glad you are here!
Clogs were big for girls in the 70s. They looked better than anything I can see on a web search for clogs now, and most of them were, so far as I remember, one particular shade of blue. A web search for “clogs 1970s” also brings up Dr. Scholl’s exercise sandals that were made of wood like clogs and were supposed to exercise feet and legs. I don’t know if that was true, but it was effective advertising.
I used to have to wash out my underwear sometimes.
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Everyone has their own domestic division of labor, and whatever works for you. Don’t think my father was permitted anywhere near the washer, dryer, or ironing board.