Is this flip flop "snapped"?

[u/Sea-Hornet8214]

[u/babbling_babylon]

in my mind: the flip flop is broken (or it broke), while the strap is snapped. but that might just be me.

i don't think your construction is out of place or extremely unusual, however.

[u/Cultural_Dirt_8151 → u/babbling_babylon]

Man, I had the *exact* same thought: "The flipflop is broken and the strap snapped."

[u/Sea-Hornet8214 → u/babbling_babylon]

Is anything unusable broken? I've always thought things that can be broken are either fragile like glass or electronic things.

[u/FeuerSchneck → u/Sea-Hornet8214]

If something is unusable because it's damaged, it's broken. It can also apply to things that are still technically usable, but don't function as intended (for example, I would say the left joystick on my Switch is broken, even though it's still usable, because it gets stuck and affects gameplay).

[u/feckentool → u/FeuerSchneck]

I think there is a lost subtlety. If I rip my pants, my pants aren't broken. If I pop a balloon, the balloon isn't broken.

[u/adrislnk → u/Sea-Hornet8214]

Yeah, pretty much. Broken can definitely mean something is just not functioning properly.

[u/youknowitistrue → u/Sea-Hornet8214]

You can be figuratively broken too. “He’s a broken man”

[u/freak0ut → u/Sea-Hornet8214]

Yes, I can’t think of anything unusable that would or could not be described as broken. But at the same time, something does not need to be unusable to be considered broken. For example, think of a piece of luggage that has the side handle torn off. Even though the bag is now technically broken, you can definitely still use it to do exactly what it was intended to do, which is to transport material things.

[u/Dave-the-Flamingo → u/freak0ut]

A phone or car can be unusable without being broken if you are missing power or fuel.

[u/feckentool → u/freak0ut]

If you want to read the newspaper, but someone burned it, you wouldn't call it broken. If you want to put salt on your food, but the salt is dissolved in water, you wouldn't call the salt broken. Poisoned food isn't broken. Soiled toilet paper isn't broken. Wet toilet paper isn't broken.

[u/babbling_babylon → u/Sea-Hornet8214]

yeah, i would say that things which are unusable or don’t function as intended are broken. you’re definitely right about fragile & electronic things breaking. but for example you can “break a tooth” (if you crack a tooth), break a promise, break a hammer, etc.

break also has a lot of idiomatic meanings. you can “break up” (end a relationship), “break down” (sort of like,,, to be very emotional/cry over something. though “break down” can also mean “to dismantle”, and certain objects like doors and walls are also “broken down”), “break through” (succeed/overcome), “break news” (tell someone news). these obviously have different contexts, but i thought it was good additional info to give. :)

[u/WowsrsBowsrsTrousrs → u/Sea-Hornet8214]

Even abstract things can be broken. Of someone who doesn't speak the language well, we might say "His English is broken." When someone is sad about the end of a relationship, "her heart is broken."

[u/smillersmalls]

I call this popping a flop but I don’t think that’s a real term 😅

I think normal people would just say it broke

[u/ROU_Misophist → u/smillersmalls]

Jimmy Buffet had the term for it "I blew out a flip flop"

[u/abbarach → u/ROU_Misophist]

Stepped on a pop top...

[u/KoalaDeli]

Thong's busted its plugga (Aus)

[u/Happiercat477 → u/KoalaDeli]

yeah this is incomprehensible outside of Australia LMAO. beautiful dialect

[u/KoalaDeli → u/Happiercat477]

Onya sonya,

Hooroo

[u/ROU_Misophist]

It's blown out

[u/Foxfire2 → u/ROU_Misophist]

"blew out my flipflop" is a lyric that uses the metaphor of a blown out tire. He stepped on a pop-top and it destroyed the bottom of it or cut it in some way, rendering the pair useless for walking.

[u/TheStorMan → u/ROU_Misophist]

US only

[u/whitakr → u/TheStorMan]

US here and I’ve never heard it. I think snapped or simply broke is way better

[u/the_speeding_train → u/whitakr]

Isn’t broke having no money?

[u/whitakr → u/the_speeding_train]

Yes when it’s an adjective not a verb. I mean like “my flip flop broke”

[u/the_speeding_train → u/whitakr]

I would say ‘my flip flop is/has broken’.

[u/SquiggleBox23 → u/TheStorMan]

And not even everywhere in the US. I'm in California and I would never use this

[u/Banana42 → u/SquiggleBox23]

Clearly not a parrothead

[u/SquiggleBox23 → u/Banana42]

I don't know what that means, so I guess you're right haha

[u/Banana42 → u/SquiggleBox23]

A parrot head is a Jimmy Buffet fan. Jimmy Buffet has made a multi-decade long career out of easy listening tropical vacation music, and has a famous song called Margaritaville which contains a line about blowing out a flip flop

[u/SquiggleBox23 → u/Banana42]

Thanks! I have heard that song but I guess I never noticed that line. 

[u/Sea-Hornet8214 → u/ROU_Misophist]

Like the candles?

[u/lefactorybebe → u/Sea-Hornet8214]

Same phrase, different meaning (though related). This is like a tire blowing out.

[u/Sea-Hornet8214 → u/lefactorybebe]

Which means?

[u/ROU_Misophist → u/Sea-Hornet8214]

A flat tire

[u/Sea-Hornet8214 → u/ROU_Misophist]

Does flat tire mean it has no air, or it has no grip ffom being used?

[u/NightDragon8002 → u/Sea-Hornet8214]

Flat tire means no air. A tire with no grip/tread left is referred to as "bald." Also, a blowout is a specific and dramatic way to get a flat tire, where the tire essentially explodes off the wheel. Just running over a nail or something may cause a flat tire without causing a blowout

[u/Sea-Hornet8214 → u/NightDragon8002]

Now this confuses me even more. Blown out tire means it has no air, but blown out flip flop means it's broken? Does blown out just mean unusable?

[u/RosenButtons → u/Sea-Hornet8214]

I think a blow-out is always a catastrophic failure that occurs during use while the item is under some pressure.

A tire blow-out usually means the tire popped or exploded. A flip-flop blow-out means the strap pulled through and probably can't be fixed. A diaper blow-out means that baby poop burst out around the edges of the diaper.

I've heard people say "I blew out my back" or "he blew out his knee." Which means they were using the body part and very suddenly got injured. Maybe they tore a muscle or tendon, or ruptured a disc in their spine.

Blowing out a candle is about moving air like wind. Blowing up is about an explosion like a bomb.

Blowing out is a catastrophic failure including pressure or strain or stress.

[u/RedHand1917 → u/RosenButtons]

I think most often people would say they threw out their back. Blew out sounds right for the knee.

[u/DrZurn → u/Sea-Hornet8214]

it doesn’t get used in every situation. I think of it like the construction of something failed and is no longer usable because of that

[u/nightowl_work → u/Sea-Hornet8214]

I think blown out in regards to shoes is just a funny analog because tires are to a car what shoes are to feet: a rubber thing between you and the ground to soften the impact.

[u/NightDragon8002 → u/Sea-Hornet8214]

I think the use of "blown out" for a flip flop is derived (a bit metaphorically) from the tire-related term. A blown out tire is often in pieces or has a gaping hole in it, sort of similar to how the flip flop is broken in a very obvious way. It's nothing to do with having air in it, more just the visual. Typically things that are blown out are severely damaged, but the specific phrasing is mostly used in the context of either things that are related to tires or transportation (especially shoes) or things that have positive internal pressure (like aerosol cans)

[u/ROU_Misophist → u/Sea-Hornet8214]

A blow out it when you're driving down the road and the tire suddenly pops.

[u/th3KRYPTking → u/Sea-Hornet8214]

It means no air in it. No grip would make the tire “bald” like people who have no hair

[u/SopaDeKaiba → u/Sea-Hornet8214]

FYI, when someone steps on the back of your shoe and the heel of it slips off your foot, that's also called a flat tire.

[u/Reasonable_Piglet370]

Has the strap actually snapped or just come through the hole it usually sits in? If it is now in two parts- the strap snapped, but the flip flops are broken. If it is still in one piece but not where it should be, its not snapped, and the flip flop is still broken.

Also note- flip flop is not the only word English speakers use for this type of footwear. Thongs in Australia, Jangles in New Zealand, for example.

I feel like we all need to apologise for making an already complex language more complex tbh.

[u/Sea-Hornet8214 → u/Reasonable_Piglet370]

Has the strap actually snapped or just come through the hole it usually sits in? If it is now in two parts- the strap snapped, but the flip flops are broken. If it is still in one piece but not where it should be, its not snapped, and the flip flop is still broken.

I feel like this is hard to explain. I guess it didn't technically snap, but it's also broken as I can't use it anymore. The strap is "folded in" rather than go thorough it, and now it's come out.

Also note- flip flop is not the only word English speakers use for this type of footwear. Thongs in Australia, Jangles in New Zealand, for example.

Yes, I know flip flops, slippers and thongs. I didn't know jangles though.

I feel like we all need to apologise for making an already complex language more complex tbh.

You do not need to apologise for speaking your language the way you do. Though, I'm not a fan of the language being imposed, but it is what it is.

[u/Reasonable_Piglet370 → u/Sea-Hornet8214]

I get what you mean re it folded in. Ok - so it isn't snapped. But either way the flip flop is broken!

[u/EpponeeRae → u/Sea-Hornet8214]

Corrected above, but in case you don't see it and want to use the term, the NZ word is "jandals". 

[u/EpponeeRae → u/Reasonable_Piglet370]

Minor typo, in NZ it's jandals (Japanese Sandals), rather than jangles. 

[u/Reasonable_Piglet370 → u/EpponeeRae]

Oh i didn't know that was the origin! I was spelling it how I'd heard it said. That makes far more sense 😄 Thanks!

[u/HEYO19191]

You could say that the strap of the flip-flop has snapped, but the flip flop itself is just "broken"

[u/SouthernCockroach37]

It sounds odd to me to use "snapped" as an adjective here. The flip flop snapped and it's now broken.

[u/notacanuckskibum]

I blew out my flip flop

[u/HortonFLK]

Snapped could work. If it were mine, in real language I’d probably say it was busted. You could also specify that the thong on the flip-flop specifically has snapped.

[u/Morag_Ladier]

Yes

[u/Passey92]

It isn't incorrect though id probably say "the flip flops is broken, the toe strap is snapped"

[u/Ok_Ad4090]

The flip flop is broken. The thong on the flip flop has snapped.

[u/hacool]

I have one like that. I don't know if I would use "snapped" or not. I think the place where it connected gradually wore out over time.

We can refer to the flip flop as "broken" because the thong/strap is now in separate pieces.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/broken

1 - Fragmented; in separate pieces.

3 - Non-functional; not functioning properly.

[u/adirarouge]

I would use snapped as an action word, and broken as a description. So like: "My flip flop is broken." "What happened?" "It snapped while I was walking."

[u/PupperPuppet]

The toe strap is broken. If you want to be specific, you could say it's stripped out.

[u/iceicig]

Broken. Snapped isnt a noun, it is a *participle, and a verb. The front piece snapped off

[u/Water-is-h2o → u/iceicig]

It’s a participle, and no one thought it was a noun

[u/Sea-Hornet8214 → u/iceicig]

What? It's not used as a noun here, but as an adjective.

[u/Reasonable_Piglet370 → u/Sea-Hornet8214]

Nope - its used as a participle in a present perfect tense sentence. You would need to say 'snapped flip flop' for it to fiunction as an adjective in this sentence.

[u/Sea-Hornet8214 → u/Reasonable_Piglet370]

Participle, I see.