"Monkey Shoes" and Dog Paws from Vibram Five Fingers fan Erik
By Justin Owings on Aug 3, 2009 | In user stories | 4 comments »
In the mailbag comes the above photo of canine and human (both male and female) paws photoed together — the human ones in Vibram Five Fingers. Looks to me like the dog paw is on top. Here's what Erik had to say:
Yosemite's Tuolumne Meadows.
My wife hated my "monkey shoes" initially, and now she can't wear anything else. The dog, obviously, doesn't wear the things. Lucky [guy] with his naturally protective pads.
"Monkey shoes" is definitely one of the various names people give to Vibram fivefingers. That said, since human beings are much more closely related to apes than monkeys from a genetic point of view, I submit that VFFs are more appropriately nicknamed "ape shoes."
Then again, "ape shoes" doesn't quite have the same ring to it as "monkey shoes." Oh well.
About the Author — I founded BirthdayShoes.com in April 2009 on realizing just how much I enjoyed having "free feet" - I mostly wanted to use them for weights, sprints, and plyometrics (I'm not much of a runner!). I'm a Googler by day and minimalist footwear aficionado by night; you can find me 'round Atlanta. If you want to catch up with what I'm doing outside of the site here, follow me on twitter @bdayshoes or @justinno or check out my personal site JustinOwings.com.Justin Owings+ has written 712 articles and 260 comments.
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4 comments
My friends and family all call my black KSOs "gorilla shoes". 
I always like to call them my "bear feet". 
my former gf called my palm/grey/slate kso's 'frogfeet'. She saw me in my blue kso's and called them 'smurfshoes'. 
My kid's friends call mine monster shoes, my wife calls them Yeti feet, and another friend referred to them as reptile shoes. Seems there's no consensus, other than the fact the everyone notices them. 
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