The basic tennis shoe known colloquially as "maypops" in the 1970s DC suburbs were a definite source of ridicule to the unfortunate wearer.

Posted by Epsteins_Flight_Log@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 43 comments

You wore these to the playground you'd get song... Maypops they cost a dollar forty nine

Maypops, they make your feet feel fine

I always wondered why fine feeling feet were a problem. Anyway I never was on the receiving end of a harangue regarding tennis shoes.

Now look at us. People have fetishizing circle jerks about shoes. Yet I think maypops are finally socially acceptable.

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I’ve only ever heard “maypop” as a term for either a bald or a used junkyard tire. Useage: yeah I gotta take my snows off but I can’t afford new tires, I’m gonna grab four maypops at the junkyard and hope it doesn’t rain til I get paid

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CarelesslyFabulous@reddit

I wonder if the terms are related, given rubber is involved in both.

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EmploymentTrue9493@reddit

Vans authentics. I still rock em.

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notyourbitch2025@reddit

Same

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elev8torguy@reddit

They called them skippies by me and yes, kids ridiculed you if you wore them.

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some_one_234@reddit

In SoCal we had Vans that looked identical. They were popular and the slip on version became huge with the surf/skate crowd. You weren’t cool if didn’t have them

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magerber1966@reddit

I am at the old end of Gen X (born in 66), and these were the only “tennies” my mom would buy throughout my childhood in SoCal. No one else I knew ever wore them and I was embarrassed by them. Finally I convinced my mom to buy me cheap running style sneakers, and that same year all the cool kids were wearing suddenly wearing Vans slip ons.

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lisanstan@reddit

I grew up near Vans. I don't like the leather/suede stuff, just the original canvas. It's all we wore as kids.

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magerber1966@reddit

That’s what I thought too. Exactly like the Vans my mom would buy because they were good quality but cheaper than most other sneakers

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DepartmentFun2853@reddit

Interesting because this style shoe is pretty popular with the Xennials crowd.

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One_Hour_Poop@reddit

Bobos in the Tidewater region of VA. Also I think there were shoes people made fun of called "Butter cookies" but I'm not sure if these are also them.

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NoRestForTheWitty@reddit

Those look like my Keds.

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Rhiannon8404@reddit

I had several different colors of Keds. Most of them were off brand, but they were always called Keds.

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GrumpyCatStevens@reddit

Came here to say this.

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blurgmans@reddit

In 70's South Florida we called them BoBo's. The song was similar:

BoBo's they make your feet feel fine. BoBo's your mama wears them all the time.

It's interesting how different areas of the country had different names for them.

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CapeManiak@reddit

I’d rock them right now

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CLE_barrister@reddit

They look like Vans Era.

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chillaxtion@reddit

I thought this was an ad and immediately wanted to buy it.

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Absotivly_Posolutly@reddit

We called ANY generic shoe Bobos or Buddies.

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bobopolis5000@reddit

Bobos

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Absotivly_Posolutly@reddit

Username checks out!

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RCA2CE@reddit

We called them skips - I don’t know why

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LaLunacy@reddit

We called em skips too. Sucked being the one wearing them during gym.

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trophywife4fun94101@reddit

They were made by Tom McCann and they were called Skippers. If not made by Tom McCann just deck shoes in most of costal America.

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RCA2CE@reddit

https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/scvrsya

For us it was just slang for cheap shoes

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Substantial_Pen3328@reddit

We had the same song in NJ, but the shoes were called Mickeys.

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Teauxny@reddit

JC Penny's - Penny's Tennys.

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Hilsam_Adent@reddit

In the '80s in L.A. if you wanted to be "cool", it was Vans for guys and Keds, which looked quite similar to "maypops", for chicks.

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Sado_Hedonist@reddit

In the other La (the one that has New Orleans in it), it was Docs and Vision Streetwear.

Vans didn't really come in style until the mid-late 90s.

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nevadapirate@reddit

Never heard of cheap shoes like this being called Maypops or what ever. I never cared if people thought I was wearing Kmart shoes. As long as the shoes were not blinding white and were preferably black I didnt care. Had to be low tops though. I hated high top shoes more than I hated liver n onions.

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