The Wrong Thong

Last night, I accidentally left my thong in someone else’s hotel room.

Because I suspect there might be ambiguity in the minds of some my non-Australian readers, this is what I forgot:

/copyrighteous/images/havaianas.png

Even with full knowledge of the Australian definition, it’s sometimes difficult for me to talk about my thongs by name. I’ve been told that I can also call them "pluggers." I’m not sure that this is really all that much better.

11 Replies to “The Wrong Thong”

  1. Havaianas! :-)

    It’s called “sandália” (sandal, this is how we call it here in Brazil). “Sandálias Havaianas”.
    And it’s good to see that a product of Brazil is famous! :-D

  2. Honestly I thought you really meant a thong (which in America is a skimpy undergarment in place of underwear usually). It is unheard of (most of the time) for men to wear thongs…

    So naturally when I read that you left your thong in a room… I was a little confused.

    We call them “Flip-flops” here. I think it’s a really silly name. We distinguish them from sandals (which have straps).

  3. a hint of how things could go horribly wrong in translation- footwear being confused for skimpy undergarments by future civilization archaeologists, interesting

    Afrikaans speakers call them “Plakkies” (plah-keys) in the RSA

  4. Besides “Sandálias Havaianas”, which translates to Havaina Sandals, they also have another common name, which is actually its real name, since we can’t call flip-flops real sandals. The name is “Chinelo(s)” — the S por plural). You pick the name of your choosing.

  5. I suppose you could call them flip-flops, but some ignorant people might think you’re talking about Kerry.

  6. it’s called “havaianas” in brazil, where those are made. translating to english, it would mean “hawaiians”. it costs about 4 usd here.. maybe i cand send you another one. which color would you like? :)

  7. Ok, so this is very late, but just reading old blogs now. 

    If you’re truly stylish, you buy double plugger thongs, whereas those ones just looked like single pluggers. :-)

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