Foul-weather footwear

December 23, 2010 • 12:06 pm

When it threatens to snow, as it does today in Chicago, it’s no good wearing fancy boots that can get wrecked by slush and salt.  But here’s a sturdy and inexpensive pair that stands up to the elements. Guess the hide (no prizes!)

UPDATE: Somebody finally guessed: see comment #47 and my reply.

79 thoughts on “Foul-weather footwear”

  8. I have this permanent image of you now sitting in your office with your feet up, hands behind your head and wearing a cowboy hat.

    Reply

  19. I wrote:

    For the sake of certainty, I’ll go with, “baryonic.” Hadronic, if nothing else.

    Jerry (generically) replied:

    Keep guessing.

    Woah…you mean your boots are composed of strange matter?

    Dude — get those to the physics department, stat. You’re walking on the greatest discovery since the electron!

    Cheers,

    b&

    Reply

      1. Sorry…couldn’t resist.

        Nor can I resist quoting one of the most brilliant satires in all of literature:

        The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he SAID was, “Why is a raven like a writing-desk?”

        “Come, we shall have some fun now!” thought Alice. “I’m glad they’ve begun asking riddles. — I believe I can guess that,” she added aloud.

        “Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?” said the March Hare.

        “Exactly so,” said Alice.

        “Then you should say what you mean,” the March Hare went on.

        “I do,” Alice hastily replied; “at least — at least I mean what I say — that’s the same thing, you know.”

        “Not the same thing a bit!” said the Hatter. “You might just as well say that ‘I see what I eat’ is the same thing as ‘I eat what I see’!”

        “You might just as well say,” added the March Hare, “that “I like what I get’ is the same thing as ‘I get what I like’!”

        “You might just as well say,” added the Dormouse, who seemed to be talking in his sleep, “that ‘I breathe when I sleep’ is the same thing as ‘I sleep when I breathe’!”

        “It IS the same thing with you,” said the Hatter, and here the conversation dropped, and the party sat silent for a minute, while Alice thought over all she could remember about ravens and writing-desks, which wasn’t much.

        Cheers,

        b&

        Reply

  20. Hey, Jerry, I see that “Atlas of Creation” book up there on your bookshelf. Aren’t you embarrassed?? Or have you dreamed up some nasty use for it?

    Reply

    1. So how come when I enlarge the picture, I see two comments from Doc Bill & salon_1928 that aren’t present here? Separate web page instead of just an enlarged pic?

      Reply

      1. You can also post on the picture pages, and some people do that by accident. I try to let them know when they do that so they can repost here.

        Reply

  37. Bill Donahue’s foreskin?

    “It puts the lotion on the skin or else it gets the hose again”

    One is allowed to dream, n’est ce pas?

    Reply

  42. Since it rather looks like it could be alligator or crocodile, but since you’ve already ruled out both…and, since you’ve made clear these are “cheap” boots…I’m gonna shoot for caiman.

    Cheers,

    b&

    Reply

  45. Nope, nope, nope, and nope.
    A boot aficionado could answer this instantly; the pattern of the hide is unmistakable.

    It can’t be a reptile–there are no scales!

    Reply

        1. Water buffalo is Asian. In America, “buffalo” without further qualification refers to the bison, which is a very different beastie indeed. There’s also the African buffalo which is only very distantly related to the water buffalo; the African variety is undomesticatable and the Asian variety is the…erm…workhorse of the region.

          If you had written “lion” when Jerry was…ah…fishing for “cougar,” it’d be the same thing. Sure, cougars are also known as mountain lions, and both are tawny felids…but they’re really quite different.

          Cheers,

          b&

          P.S. Congrats, anaxyrus! b&

          Reply

          1. In Chinese both N. American plains buffalo as well as Asian water buffalo are called “water cow” or 水牛.

          2. I’m surprised they’d refer to the American bison as a “water cow.”

            The cow part, sure. They’re interfertile with domestic cattle, and the beefalo hybrid is rather popular.

            But “water”? No clue where that might have come from. Indeed, water is scarce in some areas where they used to roam. Not desert conditions, certainly, but nothing you’d ever mistrake for wetlands, either.

            Cheers,

            b&

          3. Yeah, bison are absolutely not water lovers, what they like is a good dust bath. I’d have expected them to have the same name as the Gaur on account of their similar shape.

          4. Beats the heck out of me too. Probably just had the name “water cow” = “buffalo” and then applied it to all kinds of buffalo. Language can be weird.

          6. Lol I didn’t even think about that. I’m a Brit and a bison is a bison, a buffalo is a buffalo cx

  49. I’ve always hated the thought of cowboy boots on my feet. Never, ever had an inclination to picture myself in them.

    And now I want some.

    Damn you, Coyne! You and the horse you rode in on!

    Reply

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