Vellies walk tall

“FORMERLY a handmade rough shoe of untanned hide sewn without nails, thought to be first made by the Khoi before the arrival of the white man.”

So runs the definition of velskoen in the Dictionary of South African English, with citations going back to 1875, rather late in the life of the distinctive shoe.

Now Veldskoen Shoes (in beige suede for men and women) has become part of Brand South Africa, worn with short SA flag socks by the team for the opening parade of the Tokyo Olympics.

Up to now “vellies” have been mainly part of male footwear; no doubt they will now become an exotic tourist fashion item in Japan.

This is an unusual semantic development, for Wellington boots became famous because “The Iron Duke” wore them, long before they become domesticated as “wellies” and rubberised against the English weather.

As a footnote, the Austrian Field Marshall Blucher also left his name in distinctive boots.

An unexpected item of South African English recalls the famous barefoot runner Zola Budd, affectionately memorialised as “a black taxi, usually a minibus”.

Running kaalvoet is safe, as long as you are on an athletics track, secure from shards on glass and bullets.