[DSRP Evidence](https://dsrpevidence.org/)

# The Sneakers/Tennis Shoes Boundary

## Details

**Authors** Dale Coye

**Year** 1986

**Publisher** American Speech

**Discipline** Sociology

[Read it at the publisher](https://doi.org/10.2307/454615) 
10.2307/454615

## In authors' words

### What they set out to do (purpose)

Why do some places call a shoe a sneaker vs a tennis shoe?

### What they found (results)

People from the Northeast called the "sneakers" and others called them "tennis shoes"

## Commentary

### In short

Distinction terms can follow a geographic boundary.

### In more detail

B.2: Footwear Dale Coye (1986) explored the Distinction between the term “sneakers” and the term “tennis shoes.” He was curious that in dictionaries, the two terms were related to each other (under the entry for sneakers, the dictionary said that they were also called tennis shoes.) So he gave 110 participants who had lived in the same town since the age of 5 or younger, a survey which asked them: "What do you call the things I'm wearing on my feet?" He was wearing regular white gym shoes. The participants listed any synonymous terms and about whether sneakers and tennis shoes were the same thing. People from the Northeast (47 participants) exclusively called the shoes “sneakers” and did not view “tennis shoes” as a synonym. The other 54 participants answered “tennis shoes” with only 9 stating that “sneakers” could be synonymous with that term. Coye discovered that the Distinct terms followed a geographic boundary, specifically the Northeast including Washington D.C. used the term “sneakers”, while the rest of the U.S. used the term “tennis shoes.” Thus, Distinctions are all around us - in terms we commonly use everyday without thought. When Coye looked at just one of these terms, he discovered a fascinating correlation with geographical boundaries. This holds true for all kinds of Distinctions, including linguistic ones.

**Patterns it shows** D

**How to cite this** Dale Coye (1986). The Sneakers/Tennis Shoes Boundary. American Speech.