plimsoll  (also plimsol or plimsole)
noun - chiefly British

- a flat, light shoe made of heavy cloth with a rubber sole, worn especially for sports

- a light rubber-soled canvas shoe worn for various sports

Cambridge Dictionary / American Heritage Dictionary

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ORIGIN

The shoe was so-named not only because of the resemblance of the upper edge of the shoe’s mudguard to the Plimsoll mark on a ship, but also to its function: to keep water out of the shoe and one's feet dry.

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HOW A FEW GALLONS OF PAINT SAVED THOUSANDS OF LIVES

Up until the mid-19th century, the last word on many fine ships and men was a posting at Lloyd’s - “Missing, presumed lost - their fates unknown”.

Ship owners would try and put as much cargo onto their ships as possible. The more cargo on the ship the more money they would make.

Many ship owners weren’t terribly worried about losing a ship and its cargo. As they were insured, they made their money either way.

By 1836 public concern about the loss of ships and crews reached the point where Parliament was forced to appoint a committee to investigate the growing number of shipwrecks.

In 1870 Samuel Plimsoll, a member of Parliament from the industrial Midlands, demanded the creation of a safety limit, a “load line” to limit the weight of cargo loaded aboard ships.

Plimsoll exposed what he described as “coffin ships” created by overloading, and drafted a bill to improve conditions aboard merchant vessels - his most significant proposal being the application of a few gallons of paint to the hull of every ship - the plimsoll line - and thus saving innumerable lives.

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SYNONYMS

- basketball shoes, canvas shoes, Chucks, daps, gym shoe, Keds, PLIMSOLLS, runners, running shoes, sandshoes, sneakers, takkies, tennis shoes, trainers

- freeboard mark, load line, PLIMSOLL LINE, plimsoll mark

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SMUGGLE OWAD into a conversation today, say something like:

“Hey, how about we buy some fancy PLIMSOLLS and take up running again?”

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Paul Smith