OT: Fix for pesky cheapo aglets

[scritch]

I don't know about you, but I think it's awful how some things are definitely NOT better in this global market. One thing that has deteriorated in the name of profit is aglets. They used to be made of durable metal, and almost invariably outlasted the laces they were crimped on to. Now, however, they are almost universally cheap plastic, and fall apart before the shoelaces are barely worn.

While this is not a problem for boots with hooks, my boots require that I pull the laces through the eyelets every time I don or doff them, wearing out the aglets in short order. But, I have discovered a cure! I got some heat-shrink tubing and cut pieces just a bit longer than the aglets, and shrank them up tight over the aglets, creating a much more durable, and replaceable, aglet than the originals.

[Lee Michaels]

There ya go. I have lots of shrink tubing laying around and use it for all kinds of repairs. I never thought of aglet repair. And they come in bright colors too. So you won't have problems seeing them.

And I do have aglet problems. Between two kittens and a puppy, the only shoes around here with aglets left were locked up in a closet during their younger days. We had this one monster kitty who used to untie my shoelaces every time I sat down. It got to be downright dangerous around it. It got to such a monster, we got rid of her. Replaced it with a kitten from a neighborhood cat and he was fine. By the time he arrived, all the aglets were gone!

[Swingman]

Never heard that word in my life, and I haven't lived a sheltered life. Must be Northern terminology?

[dadiOH]

Which word? Kitten? Puppy?

[Dave]

Hey! Don't throw your lack of knowledge on us. Apparently, its origin comes from an old French word~ European French, not even Quebec French.

[Swingman]

Can you add something, other than your bibliobibuli Google barf above, to the query about whether "aglet" is mostly regional in use?

[Dave]

Google barfed or not, you didn't know it so that automatically means it's Northern Terminology?

Maybe I should just attribute your dispensing attitude to one born of Texas drawl.

[Swingman]

Having lived every other place than the North, and not having heard the term anywhere else, it was a legitimate question totally unworthy of your unnecessary, out of left field snideness.

And to what do we attribute your original "dispensing of attitude" with the uncalled for:

Might want to try getting your panties untwisted and starting the day over ... and not for the first time.

[Leon]

I tried that years ago with Rockport shoe laces, the ends always prematurely failed. The problem with the heat shrink tubing is that it did not hold up as well as the original aglets.

FWIW, I have found that the aglets on every pair of replacement shoe laces hold up well as long as they are not Rockport brand.

[basilisk]

It can't be common southern usage, I had never heard it either, always referred to it as the hickey on the end of a shoestring.

basilisk

[Leon]

Swingman is right! ;~) In Texas we commonly call the "aglet" that dam little plastic thang on the end of the shoe lace that fails. ;~)

[basilisk]

As you say this isn't a problem with hooks...

I like to buy boots with hooks, wear them a few wekks to get them adjusted, tie the strings with a square knot and clip the excess. They never come untied.

basilisk

[Dave]

Riiiiight! You haven't lived in Canada so if there's something you don't know, that presupposes that it's of Canadian origin.

Sometimes Karl, you're so full of shit it's stifling.

Yup. Don't have to start anything over, I'm just fine.

[basilisk]

Swing could have been referring to Dallas...

basilisk

[Swingman]

Canada?? LOL

Hell, Bubba ... around here "North" could mean Dallas ... WTF is it with this "Canada" shit?

Well, it arguably took a considerable pile of shit from you to unilaterally introduce "Canada" into the discussion, eh?

Your above certainly doesn't sound like it ...

[Nick]

I also have occasional problems with aiglets. I'm a rightpondian and have always known them as such. My dictionaries (both US and UK) do not show the word aglet. They both show aiglet, or aiguillette. Middle French meaning the METAL tag at the end of a shoelace or other lace.

I'd not thought of heatshrink tube. I've always used a short piece of suitable metal tube crimped to the end of lace.

Just my 2P's worth. Nick.

[Lee Michaels]

I first heard the term on the old Johnny Carson show.

[Dave]

Considering that Canada frequently is called the Great White North, AND considering that you just stated that you've lived everywhere else, the assumption that you were talking about Canada is not a big stretch at all.

As I stated and very much amplified with every reply you come up with ~ You're full of shit. Keep digging, you're only covering yourself with more of it.

[Swingman]

You, who just admitted above to making "assumptions", and proving the old saying in doing so, now calling someone else full of shit?

Go figure ...

[Lew Hodgett]

Wear shoes with leather laces.

Problem solved.

Lew