a. a kind of bikini swimsuit bottom having only a narrow strip of fabric that goes between the legs and attaches in back to a waistband, so as to show the buttocks. : also thong bikini. b. a pair of brief underpants like this.
What does the US call thongs?
In the USA a thong is a piece of underwear. In Australia, it's what they call flip-flops.
What is a thong in American slang?
flip-flopsAnd thongs are flip-flops. (Thong means a very skimpy kind of undergarment there – you'll be surprised if you're looking for footwear).
What do they call flip-flops in USA?
Even some areas of the United States have special names for them, such as "zories" on the East Coast, "clam diggers" in Texas, and "slippers" in Hawaii. Although the name “flip-flops" originated in America in the 1950s, flip-flops go way, way back in time.
Do Americans say thong or G string?
Thong in American are called g-string or just plain undies. Why does the word "thongs" have different meanings in Australia and America? A “thong” means any sort of narrow piece of a substance. Hence, the piece of rubber which goes between the big toe and the others on that sort of footwear is a “thong”.
What do Americans call thongs?
Do Americans say thongs or flip-flops?
In the US, they used to be called thongs and then somewhere around the mid-70s, they became flip-flops.
Do Americans call flip-flops thongs?
Another name that gained popularity in the 1950s was Go Aheads, a term you may still hear in parts of California and Hawaii. Many Americans called them thongs or flip-flops, but the latter term maintained the most traction. And why shouldn't flip-flops be a popular term for the shoe?
Do Americans call Sandals thongs?
To most English-speaking people in the 21st century it seems "flip flop" (or "flip-flop") is the term for the sandal-like footwear. But several times I've come across suggestions that "thong" used to be used for this kind of sandal in North America.
What do British call thongs?
We call them flip flops. It slightly confuses us when our Aussie family members call them “thongs” – which are a type of uncomfortable underwear here in England.
When did flip-flops stop being called thongs?
They were interchangeably referred to as “thongs” until sometime in the 1980s, at which point that word came to stand solely for a well-known style of underwear. Flip-flops in rubber, and later in plastic, were an obvious hit for beach-goers.
Why do Australians say thongs?
Although the term's origin is Old English, meaning a strip of leather or hide, with its first known use being before the 12th Century, Australians apparently have the upper-hand in using the term to describe footwear – in 1965, according to , with its use for underwear not recorded until 1990.