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As for this comic…
I have mentioned in the comments before that from what I’ve observed, the younger female generation has largely started to eschew the high heels of their mothers and grandmothers. They still go and buy a pair of heels for prom, but almost none of them have any experience wearing them, and they frequently hobbled around comically until they can stealthily kick the heels off under their table later in the evening and go barefoot. Maybe it’s just the increasing lack of formality in society that makes them uncomfortable with anything heeled. On a similar note, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a teen boy — or even a twenty-five year-old male — today who can confidently tie a necktie.
Oh well. Maybe it’s for the best that high heels are left in the dustbin of history along with all the other relics that have been abandoned by the youths of today, like smoking and chewing gum and soda pop and talking on the phone.
It’s like Cinderella only in reverse: can Daphne fit into the fancy ball shoes?
No.
Definitely not.
Back to the PITY VOTE Daphne !
Well, see where this goes.
I’m a male somewhat older than 25, and I’ve probably more or less forgotten how to tie a necktie through sheer lack of practice.
@naarvarq
SHAME !!
Baldie tells me there are at least a dozen ways to tie a tie.
He has tried mebe four .
Quick Tip: Four-In-Hand is for losers.
Try *this*:
You and many other people.
My shame is that I never learned to tie a full Windsor. I tie a half-Windsor, but I’ve been told it’s a low-class knot.
My interest in learning to tie a complex necktie knot has always been pretty minimal 🙂
@EG
A Half-Windsor is fine if the fabric is too thick for a Windsor.
Heck, even the Four-In-Hand is sometimes necessary for extra thick fabrics.
But Baldie strongly prefers very thin Silk as it is quite manageable and looks great !
My father taught me how to tie the full Windsor in grade school, because my private school felt it was ok to give the girls real ties and the boys clip ons (where does that make sense?!)… Now, I tie my husband’s ties, because he doesn’t know the full Windsor, and I refuse to let him do the “low class” one
You, my friend, are a classy lady.
Okay, I’ll ask. “Chuck Taylor tendon?”
No offense, but, REALLY?
All right. I now find that I totally overestimated the number of people in the world who know what Chuck Taylors are. See the shoes that Daphne (and many a disaffected youth) is wearing? Those are Chuck Taylors. It’s a joke. But it obviously didn’t land for a lot of people.
Never heard of ’em. Which isn’t surprising. All I know is the PA system joke, “Doc Martens to Podiatry.”
See, everyone knows about Doc Martens. And I thought that, while Chuck Taylors weren’t quite that culturally prominent a name, that they were around that ballpark. Apparently not.
I think most people know the shoe, if by look alone, it’s just that not many know the actual name. I’ve always just known them as Converses.
Yeah, I guess so. I’m still flabbergasted.
I knew those as “Skater shoes” when I was in school.
(as in, skateboarders)
Skater shoes are more typically associated with Vans sneakers, as they specifically started as a company that grew out of skater subculture. But Chuck Taylors were also a mainstay of the same crowd, so that works.
It’s a brand of running shoe/sneaker that apparently don’t do comfort. I confess, I had to look it up myself.
I had assumed that ‘Chuck Taylors’ had properly cemented themselves in pop culture enough to make them a punch line. I obviously overestimated their universality.
It’s not a Canadian thing, is it?
NO, IT’S NOT A CANADIAN THING!!!!!!!! AAAAARRRRAARARGRRGHRRGGHH!!!!!
Chuck Taylors are made by Converse, an American company, which is now a subsidiary of Nike, an American company, and named after Chuck Taylor, an American basketball player/shoe salesman/evangelist. Seriously, that’s how Wikipedia lists him. And I’m pretty sure that any man who is a basketball player, salesman AND evangelist is, by definition, the most American man in history.
I remember seeing Chucks being worn by Jessica Tandy in the movie, “Fried Green Tomatoes” and thinking, “Well, that is a conscious try at being cool.”
I explained to my wife how this week’s joke fell flat because tons of people don’t know what Chuck Taylors are, and her response was, and I quote, “Who the heck doesn’t know what Chuck Taylors are?” To which I replied, “I KNOW, right?!?”
As you’ve noted, not only are Chucks iconic, but they are culturally loaded. They are the official shoe of hipster tryhards and Gen-X rockers. HOW DO YOU PEOPLE NOT KNOW WHAT CHUCKS ARE?!?!?
Chuck Taylors are the name brand, and most millennials can’t afford name brand stuff.
OH, RIGHT. Converse. Those things Doctor Who wears. Kind of like my PF Flyers, but they don’t have the miracle wedge that makes you run faster and jump higher.
I’m still a bit surprised it took the BBC almost half a century to put the Doctor into shoes actually designed to help you run away from people who want to stop you from defeating them.
UPTOWN FUNK right in the 1st verse:
“Got Chucks on with Saint Laurent
Got kiss myself, I’m so pretty”
It’s very danceable too!
When I went to my son’s induction into the engineers’ society, I ended up tying ties for half a dozen clueless prospective engineers (or is that an oxymoron?). I’ve worn a tie maybe 3 times in the last 30 years, but my hands seem to remember how. But I have to do it on myself, though. Can’t tie a tie on somenone else’s neck.
@Mooki
My human pet Baldie could, no doubt.
Not on the first try, but he could get it right – eventually.
There are online videos that can help, but, in the one time in the forty or more years since I last tried, I still couldn’t get a good Windsor knot.
I do half-Windsor, which is easier, but apparently not very stylish. Whatever. I don’t like the full Windsor. It’s too fat and aggressive.
@EG
Your ties are too heavy, then.
I like how they do it in the movie “Sahara.” Something like the rabbit goes around the tree and then through the warren.
However, I feel that they leave the sartorial training to the societies, Fraternities and societies.
It needs to be muscle memory, totally. And you can watch someone do it on the internet, but it probably won’t be a competent knot. It’s standard training that young men don’t get anymore, because they never need to wear a tie outside of prom.
B-b-b-but her foot is bending exactly the right way to fit in the shoe, just one panel previous! You can see the shin and the top of the foot making a straight unbroken line. Is this an even rarer form–3rd-Panel Onset Chuck Taylor Tendon?
*snort* considering that the ususal way to put on a shoe is to start with the toes and not the heel, i´d say the whole CTT is for pure comic relief…and maybe caused by daphs subconscious fear to break her neck trying to walk on the fancy lady stilts.
on a more realistic note, while people who mostly wear flats have no trouble to slip into high heels, those who frequently wear heels REALLY have problems to wear flat shoes again, because their achillis tendon shrinks
I think that you are 100% correct, especially considering the fact that she’s extending her foot perfectly in panel two.
But wow, I didn’t know that your Achilles tendon could shrink! That should be called Barbie tendon, because like the doll, you can no longer properly stand without the aid of heels.
I have unusually high arches (my dad had them, too). My ex observed that they look like Barbie feet if I stand on tiptoe. I’d never made that connection. 🙂
The first time she saw me put on a tie, she was surprised that I knew the knot. Told her I knew the knot for mooring a zeppelin, too, but never used that one much, either. That didn’t surprise her. 🙂
Well, when my zeppelin finally returns, I’ll know who to call.
You know it! Heh. I was wondering if anyone would notice that.
GOOD.
High heels are the best torture devices.
They at best are only useful if you’re impersonating a T-Rex
I now totally want to see a T-rex in high heels.
You ask the internet delivers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RZi6NCuLbQ
it’s more related to the gait than the appearance, but close enough.
I’ve actually had to teach significant others how to walk in heels, before. As a guy with a… healthy… carnal appetite, I’ve observed many a many a female walking in them, and it actually taught me how to, which I’ve passed on to female companions.
Wait, are you Taskmaster from Marvel Comics? You can watch some chicks walk around in high heels and you know how to do it? I think your superpower needs to be put to better use.
I wish I was as good as Taskmaster. No, I saw how it defined the legs and made the butt pop, and wondered why, so I looked closer (I know, real sacrifice), and saw that they were balancing on the balls of their feet, and the ones who moved gracefully and really showed off their goods were doing this hip-glide, hip-glide thing. Not that hard.
I feel like we all need to watch some instructional videos on the subject right now. For educational purposes.
You know, it’s a little embarrassing. I know how to walk in heels, because, YAY! Butts!, but I only know how to tie a Half Windsor, and have less than no idea how to tie a bow tie. Out of the hand full of times I tried to tie a Full Windsor, I got two correct, nearly hung/garroted myself five times, and the other few times were mere failures.
29 bloke and no idea how to tie a tie. Weirdly, my younger sister does, but it was part of a uniform she had to wear for pony club.
Never understood the logic of high heels, they are ridiculously impractical. And why on earth would you wear them to a DANCE?
Madness.
High heels, in my honest opinion, do look very nice on a girl. But they are horribly impractical, and the snag is that a girl who lacks confidence in her stride will totally kill any benefit one can get from wearing heels.
High heels are attempt to give human, who is plantigrade, the charm and grace of cats, who are digitigrades. Sometimes it works.
Only with intense training, though.
@hkmaly
Finally a Cat Fan.
After a couple of years of weekly barre practice, I’m beginning to physically understand the benefits of plantigrade walking and dancing. It really is more graceful and, when you’re well practiced, can offer advantages in balance – the shoes might be almost irrelevant. But practice is key; if you haven’t done it much you might as well try dancing on a bicycle or riding a cow.
Plantigrade or digitigrade? Nature has taught us that all the most graceful and swift animals are digitigrade or unguligrade. (Think cheetahs and deer and wolves.) Anything plantigrade is almost always a lumbering goof. (Think bears and anteaters and fat raccoons.) So walking on your balls of your feet, I would imagine, would be the swifter, sprightlier way to move.
When it comes to vocabulary of walking, I have earned a very low grade 😉
I meant walking on the balls of the feet, not the heels.
I may attempt to blame this mixup on growing out of a childhood confusion over why the connection between the toes and the foot is called a ball – isn’t the heel rounder than the “ball”? I was never good at ball games, fortunately they were rarely graded.
I am sports-challenged as well. So I get you.
As John Denver said on the Grammy Awards show once when introducing Tina Turner, “The woman who showed us all how to dance in high heels!”
Sorry, John was incorrect… Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, only backwards and in high heels!
Daphne. Men’s formal wear is nearby. Get a tux and some dress shoes!
Well, there’s always that option, I guess.
If she can find a woman willing to go with her and doesn’t mind enduring Hannah van Beek’s hysterical laughter: “That’s your best friend? The one you almost went Prom with? Oh, hahahahahahaha!”
“On a similar note, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a teen boy — or even a twenty-five year-old male — today who can confidently tie a necktie.” Actually, my kids went to a high school where “Speech and Debate” is a big deal and it turns out that debaters have to debate in ties, suits (skirt suits for ladies) and usually heels (for the ladies), so most of the teens I know have been wearing formal wear dozens of times a year since they were 14 or 15 and have it down pat by the time they go to prom.
I’m not a fan of wearing ties/neck ties but I hold little issue with it.
I do, however, have a severe dislike of tuxedos (as I find them to restrict my movement by like 86%).
In regards to high heels: my ex once told me that “all guys likes high heels because women look hotter in them” or something like that.
I casually replied with that if I don’t like you *normally*, what is adding 2 inches to your height going to do to change my mind?
I still stand by that.
Also, is it bad I have no idea who Chuck Taylor is?
The key component of heels is not the height. It’s the fact that the extended arch of the foot is more elegant, and the fact that it alters the shape of the calf by forcing it to slightly flex. I am of the opinion that it does, indeed, look good. But I am also of the opinion that it’s kind of a torture device.
And I totally overestimated how ‘common knowledge’ Chuck Taylors are, because multiple people have asked, meaning there’s scores of other people out there too shy to ask. The name for the shoes Daphne wears is “Chuck Taylors”. They are the prototypical basketball shoe. And the official shoe choice of slacker hipster teens everywhere.
First: NOPE… The shoes are called “Converse All Stars” they are endorsed by Chuck Taylor!! So that became the popular slang name for them.
Second: Part of the popularity of heels must be attributed by what that does to the wearer’s ‘glutes’.
Well, same difference.
You know, I think I trade places right now in a heart beat with Daphne. Wouldn’t even matter if the shoes were high heels. The view must be spectacular.
But on another note, I’m pretty sure most people don’t put on shoes heel first, and her foot can bend that way unless she completely unlaces those hightop tennis shoes she wearing right now.
So shoe shopping with Phoebe would be something you’d sign up for? Makes sense, I suppose.
If she’s helping slip shoes on my feet wearing “shirts” like that? Hells yeah.
As somebody who thinks Chuck Taylors are ugly but who runs every day and goes to work in cross-trainers, I can tell you that the tendo Achilles does indeed shrink. I stretch mine every morning. You’d better, cause you really don’t want to rupture them.
See, I always thought Barbie’s foot was a horrible monstrosity of imagination. Now I hear that it’s actually a real affliction. Scary.
A woman in our choir started a running program and ruptured her right TA. Six months in a cast, bye-bye running program 🙁 She could have asked me!
Yikes. Those take forever to heal. Damn limited blood flow to tendons.
You speak of trying neckties. But how many men know how to tie a proper bow tie? Not one of those pre-tied fake ones, a proper tie it yourself bow tie. This is a key skill I acquired at university for Black Tie formal dinners. (Tuxedo is a US import, in the UK it is called Black Tie or a Dinner Jacket.)
I am willing to bet that only 0.09% of men actually know how to tie a bow tie. I certainly don’t.
Only cads and bounders wear ready made bow ties. I learned to tie a tie as a school boy (ok, I’m 48) but taught myself to tie a bow tie age 17 for a job as a waiter.
I’m pretty sure there are no more waiters who wear bow ties. I mean, if I were served by a waiter wearing a bow tie, even at the finest establishments this area has to offer, I’d probably need to stifle a laugh.
It is actually exactly the same as your show laces, except round your neck. And it is supposed to look tidy and symmetrical when you have done it.
Damned iPad, I meant shoe laces.
That sounds … hard.
My bf does. Tulane man. He says he spent an entire debutante season learning to tie them on the back rail of the chair in his Frat room
Last year, my wife’s company held a formal dinner party. We went to buy a clip-on bow tie at the last minute, but could only find a regular one. So at the ripe old age of 51, I learned to tie a bow tie. It looked pretty snazzy if I say so myself.
If I had to wear a bow tie, I don’t think I’d submit to a clip-on. But the chances of me ever needing to wear a bow tie are slim to none.
I never understood the problem with heels, but I grew up in cowboys boots. Not exactly the same but close enough I didn’t have a problem. I find ski boots are also pretty similar.
Have a friend who is solid into Chucks, knew exactly what you meant.
As for ties, I can do a neck tie easy enough, but can’t say I’m confidant on getting it to look right without a mirror. Bow tie, I’ve never attempted.
@EcchiKitty
Bow Ties look awful on anyone. So you are missing nothing.
Cowboy boots are similar in the height factor, but the heel is wider, which is WAY more practical. It’s less like walking on a tightrope. I think. To be honest, as a dude from Ontario, I can safely say that I have never worn cowboy boots ever. EVER.
as a 19 year old male I can say that smoking has not gone out of fashion
Depends on the geographic area and socio-economic bracket. I used to teach at an inner city school. All the kids except one smoked. Now I teach at a suburban school: population 1400 or so, with about 10 smokers in the building. I kid you not. They may vape, but actual smoking is far less a thing.
The VOTING INCENTIVE is simply …. simply …. PURRRRRRFECT
I thought you’d like it.
The easiest tie is the BOLO TIE.
Very popular in Canada, where they were invented 700 years ago by the Native Americans, who considered them essential.
Hey Daffy-Doodle ….
SOCKS don’t go with PUMPS !
wat a dope
MY HERO
Some cats can pull it off.
Others (like me) would come off as posers.
Pheobe, always remember: TGIF (Toes Go In First).`
Yeah, this is obviously a case where I’ve formed the visuals around the joke, at the mild (strong) expense of realism.
Personally, I can’t read Panel 3 without thinking, “Ew, stinky Daffy socks.” Who the heck tries on heels wearing athletic socks?
Okay, I thought about this. In the actual lady shoe stores, you put on the little footie nylon things, but it was an added step and layer of complexity, so I just thought, “Whatever.” I knew that you would say something about the inaccuracy (specifically you) but whatever. I live dangerously.
Grrr, and you a married man, too.. They are called “footies” or “footlets.” Not a shoe clerk anywhere will let you approach a heeled shoe without wearing them. I have to assume that the shoe clerks are hiding in back. (“What is she? A jackal?” “Yeah, I think so. Either that are some alien””
NECKTIES
Knot must be centered on the neck
Knot must not be overly loose
Tip of Blade must not be too long, dangling over the crotch, nor too short, ending above the belly button.
Tail must be tucked through the Keeper Loop provided on the back of the Blade
I know who Chuck Norris is, does that help?
I learnt to tie a bow tie thirty years ago, I even own one and still can’t do it neatly or consistently.
No one looks good in a bow tie outside of a dinner suit, not even Archie Andrews..
Chuck Norris is not Chuck Taylor. BUT Chuck Norris would look really cool in a pair of Chucks.
I hear that Mr. Norris has none-chucks
Expert level groan material.
Slow clap.
and…IMHO; I would argue the underlying objective of the male driven fashion industry inflicting high heels on women is not the desire to highlight the calf muscles, but rather the ‘glutes’.
Are you implying that calves are less important than the glutes? I, for one, am a big fan of the shapely calf.
I’m actually surprised Daphne never explored this before now. Then again, considering the dynamic her adopted parents have going on I should probably take that back. Either way, I think she could make it work.