So the other day I was sitting chatting with someone I’d just met and at some point I looked down…and jumped a little in surprise at what I saw. Those shoes were a surprise since for a moment there I thought the person is rather unexpectedly barefoot – but the colour is even more unexpected. Then there was maybe a tiny X-Men moment (Oh! It’s Mystique…) but this all happened all in a flash before settling on the correct answer – it is a kind of shoe I have not seen before. I’d seen the cloven hoof type of shoe, which can have a sort of cheeky and slightly electric beguile to them when worn by a woman with the right devil-may-care attitude, but these were new to me. Worn with boldness, these can really work too, and maybe in the same way, but it is a dangerous tightrope to tread (the person I was meeting with pulled it off admirably!).
Upon returning home I looked them up a bit more (they are called Five Fingers shoes) and I oscillate between giggling at the whole idea and being intrigued. I gather that they are hugely comfortable and that grabs me. But yes, they are somewhat singular. They are so utterly unconventional that I find myself amused by the idea of all the “inappropriate” places I could wear them to. Witness some of the levels of amusement:
1. Seminar somewhere (smile);
2. Faculty meeting (mild titter);
3. University wide committee meeting where I sit with distinguished members of the great and good top brass at USC (chortle);
4. Dean level meeting, perhaps with more of said big wigs (long warm chuckle);
5. Provost level meeting with said Provost in the Provostly inner sanctum (loud cackle);
6. Major address to several faculty at some formal occasion like Commencent (in which case I would where a formal version of the five-fingered shoe, of course) (guffaws).
Typing this on the bus, I’ve maybe got some weird looks for the grin I’m wearing while thinking of all of this…
-cvj
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Exactly. Working on the dreadlocks right now.
-cvj
Dude, isn’t this what tenure is for?
Hi David… yes… this is why I like them. I like walking, and walk a huge amount, and I like walking barefoot.
Maybe I’ll get some and test them out on the beach first and at home, before showing up in the Provost’s office. 😉
Cheers!
-cvj
Hi Cliff:
Humans are designed to walk barefoot.I’ve read that these shoes provide the closest experience to being barefoot while having a reasonable protection on the shoe for all those metal and glass things that might find their way to the ground.
They’re supposed to be great for running and walking.
My friend, who’s a runner and a music teacher, frequently wears his at our school. They are a never-ending source of comments and commentary. He says they really help his feet and legs feel better, especially when he spends the day walking on hard concrete floors. His are cooler-looking though because they’re green.
toe=theory of everything?
tomatoe=tomasso Dorigo?
The titles and contents of some of your last post invite to guess double meanings to your posts xD.
Ha ha! “Provostly inner sanctum” made me laugh 🙂
I used to have a whole collection of knee-high, stripy toe-socks. They were great! The first few times I wore them it felt a bit weird to have anything between my toes, but then they were kind of addictive. I imagine you’d need something similar to go under the shoes? I think that I shall point these out to my friend who has taken up slack-lining – it strikes me that these would be great for doing anything like that requiring balance. I wonder if you have full toe-dexterity in them…?