Do you call it sneakers or tennis shoes or trainers?

Tammyb

I grew up in the Midwest part of the US so it was always tennis shoes for me. Then I loved to the NYC area and it became sneakers.

What about you?

5 years ago

General

69 replies

Latest reply was from Elizabeth P

RobinF

Veteran

Michigan here - tennis shoes of course

5 years ago

Diana

Veteran

Sneakers. Grew up in SoCal, now live in Boston.

5 years ago

MaryA

Active Member

A rarely heard one - gym shoes! I grew up in Chicago, on the South Side - not sure if the term is specific to Chicago or my part of Chicago. Then I moved around but ended up back in the Chicago area and now it's sneakers.

5 years ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Tennis shoes are for tennis

Sneakers, trainers or plimsolls.

5 years ago

Ginger

Veteran

Tennis shoes in Texas.

5 years ago

Kathie

Veteran

I grew up in the south (US), but my mom grew up in the midwest, so I’m sure some of my language choices were heavily influenced by her. When I was a kid, it was tennis shoes. As an adult, I went to college in the mid-Atlantic area, followed by 20+ years in Seattle, and now back to the mid-Atlantic, so I’m now firmly with sneakers.

5 years ago

Kathie

Veteran

This was a fun read, on exactly this topic.

https://www.sbnation.com/looki.....-call-them

5 years ago

Anonymous

Mid Atlantic here. I mostly heard "tennis shoes" I think, but now I use "trainers" as a catch all for athletic shoes.
Eta- never heard them referred to as plimsolls.

5 years ago

Karie

(website)

Veteran

Grew up in south NJ and moved to upstate NY as an adult, and it’s always been “sneakers.”

5 years ago

Helena

Veteran

Spanner in the works ... I'm Canadian and usually call them "runners"

5 years ago

Laura

(website)

Veteran

Midwest - tennis shoes rather than sneakers. Or, if the shoes are made specifically for running, running shoes.

5 years ago

always trying

Veteran

In the east, Pa., it was tennis shoes.

5 years ago

Joy

Veteran

They were called “gym shoes”. Because they were bought as part of Back To School stuff to go live in your locker at the school gym. They were not seen outside the gym unless on the school track as part of PE class.

5 years ago

SarahD8

Veteran

On me or my kid: tennies. (I wear canvas plimsolls a lot in summer and she wears gear-type shoes on the daily year-round).

On anyone else: sneakers.

That’s a little weird isn’t it???

5 years ago

Anonymous

Runners, of course Canadian here.

5 years ago

Bijou

Veteran

A complete Australianism is to call them sandshoes. Trainers, runners, sneakers are also commonly used. Tennis shoes and plimsoles, not used at all.

5 years ago

Echo

Veteran

I grew up in the Midwest US, but I lived in Boston immediately following University, and I picked up a lot of their expressions during that time. Sneakers for me. Trainers seem oddly specific to me, as do tennis shoes.

5 years ago

JAileen

Veteran

I grew up in California and we called them tennis shoes.

5 years ago

Runcarla

Veteran

Canadian - runners or sneakers, but I grew up in New Brunswick (see Kathie's map)

5 years ago

deb

Veteran

Gym shoes. And I grew up in California. I think it depends on what era you grew up in as well as where.

5 years ago

Sara L.

Veteran

New Mexico - tennis shoes.

5 years ago

Bonnie

Veteran

We called them tennis shoes when I was young because I think they were tennis shoes, so flat soled. By the time my daughters arrived, canvas shoes changed from strictly flat to a running shoe style and were called sneakers when worn casually. (Calif.)

5 years ago

rachylou

Veteran

I use them all for linguistic variety, hehe. But I will say, I’m old: I remember when Nikes came out, and back then tennis shoes were for tennis, running shoes for running, and you changed out of rubber soled shoes when gym was done. Lol. Funnily enough, I never search on ‘sneakers’ or ‘tennis shoes.’ I search on brands.

5 years ago

nancylee

Veteran

I'm from upstate New York so it's 'sneakers' for me!

This dialect quiz from the NYTimes is fun and super accurate pinpointing where in the United States you grew up. Sneakers/tennis shoes/trainers is question #5.

5 years ago

nancylee

Veteran

Oops....forgot the link!

https://www.nytimes.com/intera.....z-map.html

5 years ago

Glory

Veteran

Another Canadian concurring with the other Canadians - runners

5 years ago

smittie

Veteran

I call them all the things listed above. I think my most-used is “running shoes”... no abbreviation.
I used “tennis shoes” for shoes used for tennis, which are basically white sneakers.

Prior to YLF, I never used “sneakers”.

I’m Canadian.

5 years ago

Anonymous

I should know better , but I took the quiz anyways, and it suggested my use of words and pronunciation are most similar to those in Santa Ana , CA; Seattle , WA and Reno, NV . Lol.

And I too, prior to YLF, had never used the word sneakers in my life.

5 years ago

kkards

Veteran

sneakers mostly...gym shoes occasionally, tennis shoes never

5 years ago

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