Happy Wiggle Your Toes Day.
If you are somewhere where you can go barefoot, that is the best way to wiggle your toes. If you want some sole protection along with your moving digits, flip-flops are the way to go.
When I was a kid, we called the shoes that we wore at the pool or beach “thongs.” I have no idea when I started calling them flip-flops, but I think it was gradual. As thongs became connected with women’s bottom-exposing garments, it sounded weird to ask, “where are my thongs?” But why are they called flip-flops?
Flip-flop is an onomatopoeia (a word that sounds like the sound it represents.) When people walked, their shoes made a slapping noise that sounded a little like “flip flop.” They could have been called slap-slaps.
The flip-flop, as we know it today, became popular in the 1960s. However, sandals with thongs between the toes go back to the ancient Egyptians. The shoes worn around 4,000 BC had the thong between the second and third toe. The Greeks and Romans wore thong sandals with the strap between the first and second toes like we do today. No one was calling those sandals “flip-flops.”
These fun, summer, toe-freeing shoes are still called thongs in Australia, so the name hasn’t completely disappeared. It should be noted that they call the women’s skimpy, bottom garment, the g-string, so there is no confusion.
There is a flip-flop holiday in June, but I think Wiggle Your Toes Day is the perfect time to slip on a pair of toe-freeing shoes. Plus, it’s hot out, and flip-flops are cool.