Etymology

[Puffer]

Those in the UK may be aware of a fairly light-hearted but informative BBC2 programme researching the meaning of words to assist the Oxford English Dictionary to update its entries. Balderdash & Piffle is presented by the rather comely (and invariably stiletto-clad) Victoria Coren. On Fri 6 July at 10.00pm, she will be looking at the world of fashion, including exploring the origins of 'trainer' (ugh!), 'flip-flop' (hmm!) and 'stiletto' (gasp!).

Might be worth watching. If you miss it tomorrow, it is repeated next Monday. I will endeavour to post an account of any profound conclusions in due course.

[Puffer]

As mentioned above, Balderdash & Piffle addressed the etymologyof a number of words relating to fashion and several OED entries were updated after viewers provided evidence of earlier usage. Nothing very spectacular but the programme included some interesting archive clips of stilettos and flip-flops. Before the revision, the OED admitted no usage of the terms earlier than 1959 and 1970 respectively (which was clearly far too late in the day); the essence of their revised dictionary entries is as follows:

stiletto heel: ‘a very narrow, high heel on women's shoes, fashionable esp. in the 1950s; a shoe with such a heel.’. The OED cites an advertisement in the Independent-Press-Telegram (Long Beach, Calif.) for 7 Sept 1952 as the first reference, viz. ‘The new 'stiletto' heel Vogue raves about.’. The earliest verified use of the shortened form ‘stiletto’ to mean a stiletto heel was in the Newark (Ohio) Advocate for19 Mar 1953.

flip-flop: ‘A plastic or rubber sandal consisting of a flat sole and straps’, which is now verified by the 1960 diary entry of a lady purchaser.

Bearing in mind that the OED primarily addresses UK usage, some of us might feel that the OED entries are not wholly correct. The apparent origin of the stiletto heel in 1952 is interesting; I for one have my doubts that so-called stiletto heels at that time were nearly as thin or curvy as those which became the norm a few years later. It all depends on one’s view of ‘very narrow’. Likewise, one might argue that the definition of a flip-flop is too precise in that many so-called flip-flops are made of materials other than plastic or rubber and are not necessarily flat. Perhaps ‘typically consisting’ would be a better definition. I would not argue that a flip-flop must have a toe-post (as many people refer to almost any open mule/slide as a flip-flop for the simple reason that it flops up and down when worn) but the basic oriental toe post sandal is clearly the original.

As to the all-too ubiquitous ‘trainer’, perhaps the least said the better. Suffice it to say that (surprisingly), the OED can find no evidence of usage before 1978, apart from a 1968 use by Gola as a trade name (i.e. the name of a particular shoe model)