MUGI – My Unique Gift Idea

Flip-flops are called so because they resemble flippers, worn when snorkeling – or being crazy around the house. The term flip-flop is a trademark in Germany, yet free in America.
The term is used to denote other things as well:
In the world of electronics, a flip-flop is a bistable multivibrator, a circuit that has two stable states. A term often used by journalists, a flip-flop can be a sudden change of opinion about an issue by a politician. It is a type of hub used in the construction of bicycle wheels. A gymnastic motion – also called a handspring. Flip-flops are also the translocation of a phospholipid in cell membranes, carried out by flippase proteins. They are algebraic operations of geometry. Furthermore, a flip-flop is a role reversal between two women engaged in a sexual encounter.

As footwear, also known as pluggers or toesies, the flip-flops of the West were inspired by the traditional woven soled z?ri or “Jonge sandals” of Japan. This is how they arrived at the name “jandals” – actually a trademark since 1957, owned by the company, Skellerup. The prototype was supposedly invented in a garage in Auckland, New Zealand by one Morris Yock, who stumbled onto the discovery while traveling in Japan with his son Anthony. The first ever National Jandal Day was held on the 7th of December, 2007 to raise funds for “Surf Life Saving New Zealand”.

However, New Zealand’s claim is disputed by the offspring of one John Cowie, a British businessman who founded a plastics manufacturing company in Hong Kong in the early 1950′s. Yuck it up all you want, but Yock was just a New Zealand national importer, say they. Yock it up to fate that Jandals caught on fast: Skellerup’s rival down-under, Dunlop manufactured their first in 1960, after being admired on the feet of the Aussie swimming team at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne. It occurs to me, though, that all patents aside: such a delightful shoe could only come from God. And anyway – Yock and Cowie may be informed that Americans were onto the flip-flop or flap already – one century earlier!

Some say that the great Transcendentalist thinkers of the mid-19th century wore such shoes around the Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts. They liked the feel of the earth on their bare-feet – it brought them closer to nature – and wanted a sandal which could easily be slipped on or off. Furthermore, they wanted a modernized version of the sandals worn by Socrates, Confucius, Moses and Jesus. Then, during the American Civil War, an 1861 letter to the editor of the New York Times mentioned under-equipped volunteer troops in the Seventh Regiment wearing “flip-flaps”:
The men were not in uniform, but very poorly dressed, — in many cases with flip-flap shoes. The business-like air with which they marched rapidly through the deep mud of the Third-avenue was the more remarkable…The men have not yet been supplied with shoes, and yet still march flip-flop. Why?

Flip-flops, though, are commonly encouraged in some European and North American militaries as sanitary footwear for communal showering. Some foot-soldiers and civilian hikers carry flip-flops or a pair of flip-flop soles sewn to socks as a lightweight, emergency, damaged boot replacement.
The downside to the flip-flop, though, is actually a commonly cited health concern – but don’t be concerned.
While the chances of getting athlete’s foot are fewer with flip-flops than open-toed shoes, they have been accused of causing other formidable foot failure. Flip-flops have a sponge-like rubber sole, and when the foot is pressed to the ground, it rolls inward and the sponginess allows it to roll more than usual – more than recommended. This flip-flop phenomenon is known as “overpronation”. The arch of a shoe is supposed to be locked in to absorb the shock when the foot hits the ground – but the shit could hit the fan in flip-flops, because the locking mechanism opens too much. This can cause pain in the heel, the arch, the toe and the forefoot. It can result in flat-feet. It can cause a person to overuse the foot tendons, causing, thereby, tendinitis. Watch your step: ankle sprains can happen while stepping off of a stoop or taking a step in stupidity. The openness of the sandal also makes the person wearing them increasingly susceptible to stubbed toes.

In 2008, researchers at Auburn University attested to these dangers. Their report was presented to the American College of Sports Medicine. The study also mentioned that flip-flop folks take shorter steps and that their heels hit the ground with less vertical force. Study participants, it was reported, did not bring their feet high enough in the air during the leg’s swing phase. This results in a larger ankle angle and shorter stride – most likely because their toes tried to grip the shoes. This motion, repeated, may cause problems from the foot all the way up to the hip – which is not too hip. But don’t be concerned.
The informed flip-flop wearer, though, with these considerations in mind, will take more care in their stride. They will walk slower and more wary of the ground. As a result, they will be more apt to observe the natural beauty which surrounds them, which, before they had been missing in their stressed sneaker struts and strides. They will be more interesting as human beings. You cannot run in flip-flops, instead, you find yourself doing more of a musical shuffle. If you are forced for some reason to jog, say, you just robbed a bank, you run the risk of having one of the sandals fall off. Therefore, you must find a balance between the leg and foot and the flip-flop; you must be considerate of how high the feet fly, and at what angle. Such artful thinking will train the mind to be more precise. You will do better in school, at work, and you will become more skilled in analytic thinking.
People wearing flip-flops are closer to the ground, closer to nature, second only to bare-footers. They are among the first to sense an oncoming earthquake, or psychic vibrations, which indeed travel along the ground – rising like heat. They are more down-to-earth people and are one step ahead of the game, when the game is undressing.
See that beautiful couple strolling the boardwalk? Oh, how they capture the spring breeze in their aura – why, they walk as if on air – careful, nice-posture, intelligent, laid-back buddy. It has got to be the fuckin’ flip-flops.