On 3 Jul 2009 14:02:48 -0400, Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:

>On Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:04:55 -0700, Darren New wrote:
>
>> BTW: "Trainers"? Is that what this side calls sneakers?
>
>Yup.  I think it's because in the UK it's short for "cross-trainers" 
>which we're starting to see in stores here now as a type of "speciality 
>sneaker".
>

When I bought my first pair of trainers, here in the UK, nearly 40 years ago it
was short for training shoes. Before that we had sandshoes (gutties), plimsolls
(bumpers), tennis shoes and there are lots of regional variations on the names.
IIRC Bumpers were so called because they looked like bumper cars or dodgem cars.
-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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