Galosh

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Galoshes (French: galoches), also known as gumshoes, dickersons, or overshoes, are a type of rubber boot that one slips over shoes to keep shoes from getting muddy or wet. The term originally referred to a wooden shoe or patten, or merely a wooden sole fastened to the foot by a strap or cord. In the middle ages, "galosh" was a general term for a boot or shoe, particularly one with a wooden sole. In modern usage, it is an outer shoe worn in inclement weather to protect the inner one, and keep the feet dry. Galoshes are now almost universally made of rubber, and in the United States they are often known as "rubbers." In the bootmakers' trade, a "galosh" is the piece of leather, of a make stronger than, or different from that of the "uppers", which runs around the bottom part of a boot or shoe, just above the sole.

An unconfirmed legend states that galoshes were invented by an Englishman Radley. He suffered from rheumatism and wanted to keep his feet dry. While reading De Bello Gallico by Julius Caesar he noticed a description of protective cloth overshoes "gallicae" and decided to capitalize on the idea. He patented cloth overshoes reinforced with rubber to keep feet dry.

There is also records of a black inventor by the name of Alvin Longo Rickman, who received a patent for an overshoe in 1898.

There are two basic types. One is like an oversize shoe or low boot, made of thick rubber with a heavy sole and instep, designed for heavy-duty use. The other is of much thinner, more flexible material, more like a rubber slipper, designed solely for protection against the wet rather than for extensive walking.

In Russia, galoshes have been an indispensable attribute of valenki.

In the upper U.S. Midwest, school children know the black rubber, over-the-shoe boot as "four-buckle arctics".

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

[edit] Galosh in culture

• Russian FM radio station Silver Rain Radio introduces a Silver Galosh Award for the most dubious achievements in show business every year since 1996. This coined the Russian colloquial phrase "To sit into Galosh", which means "to get into a mess".
• Gummo Marx, the fifth Marx brother, who quit the act during the family's vaudeville days and thus never appeared in a Marx Brother film, was nicknamed by Art Fisher based on his habit of always wearing gumshoes. While all the other performers wore street shoes, and thus made a loud noise when they walked on a hardwood stage, Milton (Gummo) was known for startling people by appearing suddenly from out of nowhere, because the gumshoes on his feet gave him a nearly soundless footfall.
• Sesame Street Used in the Bert and Ernie song All Dressed Up, from their greatest hits album:

"Got my hat on my head, Got my scarf round my neck, I'm all dressed up and ready to go. Got my earmuffs on my ears to keep me warm; Galoshes on my feet to weather the storm."