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Week seventy-seven: HUARACHE (probability 33273), by David Sutton

A HUARACHE (or HUARACHO) is a kind of flat-heeled sandal; the word is Spanish in origin.

This is by no means the only exotic word for an item of footwear. Those with a penchant for sandals can also go for a CHAPPAL, a type of open sandal worn in India, the Spanish ALPARGATA, a light sandal with a hemp or rope sole, the similar French ESPADRILLE, or the Japanese ZORI or GETA, the last being a less-comfortable sounding wooden affair with a thong between the toes.

Boot aficionados who wish for stylish OCKODOLS (an odd-looking dialect word that means one's feet when wearing boots) can take their pick from the BLUCHER, a leather half boot named for the Prussian general who was late to the battle of Waterloo, the CROWBOOT, a type of Inuit boot made of fur and leather, the Polish CRACOWE, a long-toed boot of the fourteenth century, the Norwegian FINSKO, FINNSKO or FINNESKO, a reindeer-skin boot with the hair on, the JEMIMA, an elastic-sided boot, the LARRIGAN, a long boot made of oiled leather, worn by lumbermen, the MUCLUC, MUCKLUCK or MUKLUK, an INUIT sealskin boot, the SEABOOT and SNOWBOOT.

While tournament directors, give the rabble that they have to try to control, may understandably prefer to opt for the JACKBOOT.

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