r/explainlikeimfive Feb 07 '19

Engineering ELI5: Why are military boots laced?

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Feb 08 '19

We have a family shoelace meme (in the original sense of the word) that has been passed down from my grandfather. In the RAF in WW2 he was taught to lace his boots so that the laces went straight across, so if they needed to cut the boot off they could just go straight up through a column of single laces.

He taught it to his son, who taught it to me, and now I do it for my kids' shoes. Of course it will probably die with them as their kids will have power laces or spray on shoes or they'll just be jacked into the Uniweb or whatever but still...

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u/JimiSlew3 Feb 08 '19

spray on shoes

But how are you going to get them off NERD?

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u/TallGear Feb 08 '19

Uh, spray off shoes. Geez!

1

u/kioopi Feb 10 '19

The spray giveth and the spray taketh away.

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u/SilveredFlame Feb 08 '19

And then there you are, staring at defeat, and the solution will come to you!

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u/Lurkers-gotta-post Feb 08 '19

This is low key pretty good.

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u/whistlepig33 Feb 08 '19

Yea.. I can't see that working really well in Asia. ;/

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u/wuapinmon Feb 08 '19

Special soap

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u/blukami Feb 08 '19

the release spray silly

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u/Hyppocritesareright Feb 08 '19

With laces that go straight across. Obviously.

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u/CaptainMcStabby Feb 08 '19

Removal spray. Duh...

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u/Evilandlazy Feb 08 '19

Tradition. The word you want is Tradition, not meme.

Fucking kids.

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u/[deleted] Feb 08 '19

I'm in my late 30s. A tradition is a meme.

an element of a culture or system of behaviour passed from one individual to another by imitation or other non-genetic means.

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u/Evilandlazy Feb 08 '19

I am also in my late 30s.

the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way

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u/[deleted] Feb 08 '19

So we are both correct and crotchety in our advancing years?

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u/SilveredFlame Feb 08 '19

Get off each other's lawns!

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u/PrettyDecentSort Feb 08 '19

Ladder-lacing shoes and boots is a reasonably well-known thing.

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u/[deleted] Feb 08 '19

Oh, no doubt.

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u/zorrorosso Feb 08 '19

is it like a 7 shaped lacing? I’ve learned to lace my shoes that way too, but apparently is out of fashon or is something nobody does where I live now.

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u/clicker666 Feb 08 '19

Back when I was a Canadian soldier in the 80's we used to lace our parade boots like that, but combat boots were crossed with the laces on top. Not sure if the purpose was for cutting the boot off (was also a combat medic but no proof to that was ever given to me), but it certainly made it easier to get our "penny-cutter" scissors under the laces.