Sorry, Amy, but in Tampa Bay, Florida, you would be looked at like you had seven heads. It gets hot down here, especially this time of year. It's July.

People who wear socks and shoes are considered the odd ones. (And shoes without socks is just plain gross.) And it's especially noticeable when you go to the beach and you have tan lines around your ankles and your feet are white at the end of your tanned legs.

And it's pretty nigh impossible to avoid having a tan here. I wear sunscreen when I go outside. I've still got a tan. It's a light one, but it's darker than my skin normally is.

You consider it but good manners to not wear flip-flops in public. But down here, your sense of etiquette does not apply and never will. We're used to it, and we do not care. If you ever came to Florida, my suggestion to you would be to stop looking at men's feet at close range, which is the only way you could possibly notice or be bothered by hairy toe knuckles.

Beachville is different. Even Venice isn't beachville, save for right at the boardwalk, and I sure wouldn't want to wear flip-flops there, because it would make it hard to run from all the violent meth-heads currently overrunning the place.

Patrick - there are sandals and there are flip flops. I won't wear flip flops anymore after a hard fall and another friend who broke her arm in a fall due to flip flops. Now I wear Tevas in the hot weather.

There is no excuse for disgusting feet guys. Get a pedi regularly. I shouldn't have to get grossed out (at a cook out a few days ago this guy's feet turned my stomach) because you don't know how to clip your nails and wash/pumice your feet.

Sorry, Amy, but in Tampa Bay, Florida ... People who wear socks and shoes are considered the odd ones. (And shoes without socks is just plain gross.)

I lived in Jacksonville and Tallahassee for a lot of years and went about in shoes (mostly boat shoes) without socks for most of them. Hated flip flops as daily wear - except at the beach because sand in my shoes was uncomfortable.

To Patrick's point, however, many of my friends went about with flip flops as their daily footwear.

The high school hallways got kinda noisy between classes, despite the fact that flip flops were banned by the dress code - except for the girls who claimed theirs were sandals and wore them anyway.

Men who wear sandals (especially with socks) in Florida are immediately identifiable as Yankee transplants.

In nice restaurants, agreed. No flip-flops on gentlemen. However, ladies wear their expensive ones, and that's OK. (There are some very nice restaurants - meaning excellent food/service/views - that allow shorts. Flip-flops are obviously OK there.)

But walking down the street, in any state that has a coastline, in July -- Patrick has the win.

There are a wide range of flip flops. I favor the sneaker-bed supportive ones, myself. Spendy, but worth it when you live your entire summer in them. Dollar-store ones (aka shower shoes) are accidents waiting to happen.

Some trendy stores sell shower shoes for ridiculous prices, obviously targeting them for street wear. That is just silliness - that's likely where your friend went wrong.

Blaming a (partial) SHOE for falling?

You can't WALK, sugar. Stay on the couch.

First they came for the Crocs and I didn't speak out as I didn't wear Crocs

Then they came for the Rabbit Slippers, and I didn't speak out as I didn't wear Rabbit Slippers

Then they came for the Furry Hoof Boots, and I didn't speak out as I didn't wear Furry Hoof Boots

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for my flip-flops.

In nice restaurants, agreed. No flip-flops on gentlemen. However, ladies wear their expensive ones, and that's OK.

No. Expensive flip flops are still flip flops and should not be worn in nicer restaurants - i.e., the ones that don't allow shorts, beachfront or not.

And wearing flip flops anywhere but the pool or the beach indicates one is not a gentleman.

Someone who wears stiletto heels has no business criticizing someone who wears flip-flops because their footwear makes them more accident prone. Besides being an accident waiting to happen, they're just plain bad for your spine.

Conan, I should have qualified my statement a little better. I was thinking more of people who wear sneakers w/o socks. Sneakers are padded with foam lining which means they are both insulated and absorbent. So in hot weather you will sweat more and the sweat will be absorbed by the foam. Nasty. They will stink to high heaven very soon.

Boat shoes are okay w/o socks. They less insulated and less absorbent.

CatherineM, just my observation but in Florida (perhaps because people know their feet are exposed more) the feet on both men and ladies tend to look pretty good.

I did see one case of truly nasty feet on a college professor. And I'm amazed that he would let himself be seen in class and in the library barefoot. Probably due to his obesity (he's basically a stroke waiting to happen), his feet are horrible. His toenails are like talons and his toes seem to be permanently splayed. So they point at an upward angle and are spread apart. I could hold my own toes in that position if I wanted to. But I couldn't keep them that way for me than a few seconds. His toes seem to be stuck that way. And because of his sizeable belly, he probably can't care for his own feet. (Not making excuses for him, though. I would agree he should get regular pedicures if he can't do it himself. And he should wear proper shoes at work.)

You can pry my flip flops out of my cold dead fingers. :D

I know what you're saying, Patrick, but I'd actually go the other way. Sneakers (canvas ones, at least) can be washed. Leather boat shoes cannot - although the newer ones have a removable insole that can be cleaned. By their nature, boat shoes can be hosed out, however.

As kids, our shoes of choice were canvas sneakers with no socks (Tretorns, canvas Sperrys, PF Flyers, Chuck Taylors, Vans when they came along, etc.). Socks definitely kept the odor down, but back then in Florida, sockless was the only way to go.

Of course, this was back when those were relatively inexpensive shoes and could easily be replaced when one wore a hole in them.

Today, a pair of canvas Chucks cost almost as much as a pair of halfway decent leather loafers.

I don't see the canvas sneakers much any more. The ones I see are the unwashable kind.

All this talk of shoes, however, reminds me that there's cultural differences operating here. Japan, for instance, tends to look at westerners as somewhat ridiculous with their footwear.

They have a point. Even with simple leather shoes, our feet are usually the most clothed part of our bodies. And the most confined. Our feet need to breathe, just like the rest of our skin does. And an interesting fact: if you never wear shoes, you will never have athlete's foot. Fungus needs a dark, moist place to thrive. Shoes give it the opportunity.

As one who makes daily excursions to the gym, I notice an interesting trend amount the bodybuilders. Too many of them only look good from the knees up. Calves tend to look like matchsticks. I've often wondered if shoes were responsible. We treat them with such delicacy. We've got all these supports, and insoles, and cushioning. When did we decide our feet shouldn't do the work they were evolved to do?

my suggestion to you would be to stop looking at men's feet at close range, which is the only way you could possibly notice or be bothered by hairy toe knuckles.

What if the hairy toe knuckles were Jehovah's Witnesses?

Sometimes the hairy toe knuckles are up in your face while you're dining.

"Calves tend to look like matchsticks."

Patrick, I don't think shoes have much to do with it as those are known as straight-boy legs. Straight men only think of their upper body for weight-lifting; they don't realize, as most gay men and women do, that legs can be sexy.

Seriously, I've had to wait at the gym for many of the bench press benches; but, rarely do I have to wait for the calf-press or other leg machines.

Amy: "Sometimes the hairy toe knuckles are up in your face while you're dining."

Or they are in your face when the "Bennies" ride your commuter train "down the shore" (where I live) on Summer Fridays. They have way too much luggage (seriously - do you really have to bring a boogie board on the train?), wear flip-flops, talk loudly (even on the quiet cars), and are obnoxious jerks.

They will often, if there is room, put they flip-flop feet on the seat next to you. Or if the train (more often the case) is standing room only be wearing tank tops so that their hairy armpits are in your face as they lean over you in a crowded train car.

God, how I hate summer by me! "Bennies" go home!