Scots are seriously divided over different names for back-to-school essential

The Sun

3 days ago

SCOTS have been left seriously divided over what they call these back-to-schools essentials.
Many of us will remember wearing the black rubber-soled canvas shoes for PE classes at primary school.
And it turns out people across the regions of Scotland call them different names.
A recent YouGov survey from nearly 38,000 people across the UK show that many have their own word for the school staple.
'Plimsolls' is the most popular name for the trainers throughout the UK - with 53 per cent saying it is how they would typically refer to the shoe.
It is mostly used in Tayside, the Scottish Borders, Fife, Lothian and Grampian areas in Scotland.
Around five per cent of people in the UK call them 'sandshoes' or 'sannies'.
The shoes themselves were originally known as 'sandshoes' - and this has hung on in parts of Scotland.
Some even call them by the nickname 'sannies'.
A total of 52 per cent of people in Refrewshire and 47 per cent of Glasgwegians call them 'sandshoes' or 'sannies'.
The simpler descriptor of 'gym shoes' is used across Scotland with around 20-24 per cent in most regions of the country using the term.
This is also rising to 29 per cent on Tayside and 39 per cent in the north eastern Grampian area.
Overall, only six per cent of people in Britain use the term.
For nearly four in ten people in Lanarkshire (38 per cent), as well as 32 per cent of people in Central Scotland, 'gutties' is the go-to name.
This is a word that derives from a type of rubber once used to make them.
The Lothians are home to one of the most specific regional terms, with 18 per cent calling them 'rubbers'.
However, 'plimsolls' is the most common name for them in the area.
For 23 per cent of people in the UK, the black school canvas shoes are called 'pumps'.
While the name has some currency in most of England, it is virtually unused in mid Scotland.
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