Talk:Wellington boot

1st Duke of Wellington

Refering to the Wikipedia article about the 1st Duke of Wellington, his name is different. Who knows the right name?

Finally there is a quote linking his name to this boot style. Were his boots already made of rubber? Holmes, Richard. Wellington: The Iron Duke. London: Harper Collins Publishers, 2002 ISBN 0-00-713750-8, pages 85 - 87.

I did not read that book myself, so I do not dare to add the quote.--202.169.220.167 (talk) 20:28, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

Plagiarism

The text of this article appears to be heavily plagiarized from this page: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/peoplesmuseum/week2_07.shtml Dr. Stephen J. Krune (talk) 20:02, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

Not sure I see it, can you give specifics?TastyPoutine ^{talk (if you dare)} 00:20, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

"Wellington instructed his shoemaker, Hoby of St James Street, London, to modify the standard 18th century Hessian boot. The resulting innovation was designed in soft calfskin leather and had the trim removed and cut closer around the leg.

"This made the boot hard-wearing enough to suit the battlefield, but also comfortable and, of course most important to Wellington, stylish. The Iron Duke didn't know what he'd started. The boot was soon dubbed the ‘Wellington boot’."

this passage really stands out even if you aren't paying close attention--not only is much of the writing in this Wikipedia article non-encyclopedic, it matches these passages word for word (it's not spam though so that's probably why it escaped your eagle eye) Dr. Stephen J. Krune (talk) 00:50, 14 April 2009 (UTC)

Old comments

I removed an advert for a little known (one google reference to it) music venue. The hyperlink was dead, suggesting the pub went out of business four years after it opened. Monk Bretton 22:40, 25 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Does anyone know when the term "Wellington" started to be used? In Blackadder the episode featuring the Duke has a number of inevitable puns (e.g. "sleeping with a pair of Wellingtons" or "when a man soils a Wellington, he puts his foot in it") and I'm not sure if they're anachronistic or not. Timrollpickering 16:09, 4 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I'm tightening up the text to make it flow better. The section at the beginning metions that the boots were made from leather and then later starts talking about the rubber boots. 81.56.139.182 20:17, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

Wellies

Maybe there should be some sort of link to Billy Connolly's "Welly Boot Song"? Or was that the "musical venue" link that was removed?

Any one got any good links to Wellies Web sites to share with us all?

I just added a trivia note about Gaelic Storm's album, "Bring Yer Wellies". It's a fun album, and the first time this American ever heard the term. That's what led me to this entry; and I found out that Wellies are what we always called "barn boots". The "official" name is more clever.--12.2.82.78 20:25, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Oops! Just found the Gaelic Storm song referenced deep in the body. Removed it from trivia.--12.2.82.78 22:47, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Surely it is nonsense to say that Goodyear decided to make tires. Reference to the Wiki entry on Goodyear himself indicates that he did no such think and that the Goodyear tire company was not founded until the end of the century, long after his death. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.194.31.219 (talk) 15:52, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

Timeline?

"Considered fashionable and foppish in the best circles, they remained the main fashion for men through the 1840s. In the 1950s they were more commonly made in the calf high version and in the 1960s they were both superseded by the ankle boot, except for riding." I assume 1850s/1860s were meant? -Ahruman 07:10, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

Unrelated to the previous comment but similarly, "It was in 2009 worn and popularised by the 1st Duke of Wellington and fashionable among the British aristocracy in the early 19th century."? This is obviously wrong but I don't know what it should actually be. --user.lain (talk) 12:36, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

Finland

No mention of Scandinavia when talking about rubber boots? At least here in Finland, just about everybody wears them when working on a farm, walking in a forest, etc. And no mention of Nokian Footwear?--Elmeri B. Suokirahvi 15:11, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Maybe it's just me but the whole article seems somewhat US/UK-focused. Pasi 00:21, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Probably because the original article was written by US/UK people. Alex Holowczak 19:04, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

I would tend to agree with the point regarding Nokian Footwear. The problem is that they are not really available in the UK, so few people in the UK wear their products. Horsetan 10:44, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Canada

As a Canadian, I've seen many people wearing these boots, but I've never heard them referred to as "Wellingtons" here, only "rubber boots." I'd like to note this in the article, but I don't have a proper source for it. Does anyone know of a study of Canadian slang that might mention this?

Blucher

There is a story that Wellington issued large numbers of these boots to soldiers in the Napoleonic wars. In Australia, older people often refer to gumboots as Blucher Boots. Blucher was one of the allied generals. Many earlier emigrants to Australia may actually have served at Waterloo and there has long been speculation that Blucher was just as instrumental in distributing the boots but Wellington took all the credit, the still existing name "Blucher Boots" giving the lie! I have put in a couple of sentences noting this alternative name in Aus. --MichaelGG 06:32, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Rubstones

Can anyone find a single instance anywhere of anyone calling cut-down rubber boots "Rubstones"? Google is silent on the subject, and no cites have been offered in the article. Eliahna (talk) 22:58, 13 November 2010 (UTC)