"The shoes are said to have got that name because they were often left outside hotel rooms, ostensibly to be cleaned, as an easily identifiable signal that hanky-panky should be assumed to be taking place within. This was because the only permitted cause for divorce at the time was adultery by one partner. For a couple to arrange a divorce in an amicable way, one member - it was commonly the man - had to be caught in flagrante with another woman. A minor industry grew up in which housemaids in hotels augmented their meagre wages by giving evidence of having found the supposedly adulterous couple in bed together."A partial extract from the World Wide Words e-newsletter 1st March 2008 (archives here)
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Picture credit.....because apparently you can still buy them (though I guess Renown 1886 Online Outfitters aren't necessarily going for the same market share these days as they've introduced an extra "r" into the spelling, co-respondent thereby becoming correspondent......which shifts the meaning from the threateningly "legal" to the much more acceptable "literary") And a paltry £135 a pair.....but, on the upside, there's two colourways to choose from guys!
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