Equivalent American word ?

[Zeb_Carter]

I can't imagine one could wear Wellingtons over shoes (barring vastly bigger than shoe size), so you must be referring to a different type of boot, I think.

Yep, they were just made of rubber and slipped on over your shoes like galoshes. Some even had these cool fasteners that pulled them tight around your legs.

Kinda like these...

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e7/6b/15/e76b151f827decd215126f924497c989.jpg

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Thanks, the picture solves it for me. Rainboots it is !

Also thanks to everyone else that replied.


I just hope the phrase "A fanny (vagina) like a welly top" which is a common derogatory UK saying will sound OK when it's written as "A fanny like a rainboot top."

How about, and this is quite derogatory, "A cunt as wide as the Grand Canyon."

 

[jaF0]

How about, and this is quite derogatory, "A cunt as wide as the Grand Cannon."

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/XdoAAOSwVbVfFO5o/s-l400.jpg

 

[EdEc]

Sixty years ago my brother had a pair of black leather Wellington boots and they were sold as Wellington boots and that's how he referred to them when he wore them. I doubt that the Duke of Wellington wore rubber boots when he defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/XdoAAOSwVbVfFO5o/s-l400.jpg

Oops. Canyon. Gee, give an old man a break once in a while.

 

[soulhouse]

Sixty years ago my brother had a pair of black leather Wellington boots and they were sold as Wellington boots and that's how he referred to them when he wore them. I doubt that the Duke of Wellington wore rubber boots when he defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.

True, but today a wellie in common parlance is a very specific type of rubber boot.

 

[jaF0]

'S OK, that wasn't really a cannon either, but it was what I came up with quickly.


https://i.pinimg.com/originals/6a/be/0a/6abe0afff902b89a931512d6ee079413.jpg

 

[Zeb_Carter]

'S OK, that wasn't really a cannon either, but it was what I came up with quickly.


https://i.pinimg.com/originals/6a/be/0a/6abe0afff902b89a931512d6ee079413.jpg

Yes it was. It was a heavy, heavy artillery piece but it is still a cannon.

 

[Lori_the_Hoosier]

Sixty years ago my brother had a pair of black leather Wellington boots and they were sold as Wellington boots and that's how he referred to them when he wore them. I doubt that the Duke of Wellington wore rubber boots when he defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.

From English Heritage (sic):

TROUBLESOME TASSELS
In the 1790s officers in the British Army wore boots called ‘Hessians’, which were named after the German mercenaries who fought alongside the British in the American War of Independence (1775–83). Made of soft, highly polished calfskin, they were knee high with a curved top, similar to a riding boot, but with a ‘V’ shaped notch, decorated with a tassel, cut into the front.

From the 1790s onwards, ordinary soldiers stationed in hot climates began to wear lightweight linen trousers instead of their normal woollen breeches. Back home, the fashion for wearing these tight-fitting trousers caught on in the 1800s. It became associated with Beau Brummell, the style icon of his day.

The trouble was that the tassel on ‘Hessian’ boots, which were designed to be worn with traditional breeches, made them difficult to wear with these newly fashionable trousers.

PIONEERING CUT
At some point in the early 1800s Arthur Wellesley, then Viscount Wellington, asked his shoemaker, Mr George Hoby of St James's Street, London, to make a boot which was easier to wear with the new trousers. Hoby removed the tassel and cut the boots lower to make them more comfortable for riding.

Even before his great victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, Wellington was on his way to becoming a fashion icon. By 1813, and the victory at the Battle of Vittoria, Wellington’s fame led others to start wearing this new style of boot. They duly became known as ‘Wellingtons’.

PRUSSIAN IMPOSTERS
The Prussian Field-Marshal von Blücher, whose arrival on the battlefield of Waterloo tipped the balance in Wellington’s favour, was also afforded the honour of having a boot named after him. The ‘Blücher’ was cut even lower than the Wellington, similar to an ankle boot. Von Blücher had commissioned this new boot for the sake of the comfort of the ordinary Prussian soldier.

Naturally the British did not take to Blüchers as well as they did to Wellingtons. In 1841 they were called ‘shocking imposters’ by the satirical magazine Punch.

Wellingtons remained fashionable until the Duke’s death in 1852, but had declined in popularity by 1860 when the ankle boot, no longer named the Blücher finally superseded them. Nonetheless they continued to be worn by senior officers in the British Army, seeing service in the Crimea and the First World War.

Meanwhile, in 1856 the Edinburgh-based North British Rubber Company had started to manufacture Britain’s first rubber or ‘gum’ boots. With the name of the duke still retaining a patriotic pull on consumers, these new boots were soon also renamed Wellingtons in Britain.

Their popularity did not become widespread until the First World War, when in 1916 the company was commissioned to produce millions of pairs as standard winter kit for ordinary soldiers, to prevent ‘trench foot’, a medical condition caused by prolonged exposure to damp.

At the end of the war, soldiers brought them home and introduced these extremely practical items of footwear to farms, gardens and allotments all over the country. A century later, music festivals and fashion catwalks are still benefiting from this wartime legacy.

 

[Emirus]

I just hope the phrase "A fanny (vagina) like a welly top" which is a common derogatory UK saying will sound OK when it's written as "A fanny like a rainboot top."

You learn something new everyday no matter how old you are. In 60 years of sexual activity beginning in my mid-teens I’ve never heard of the phrase “a fanny like a welly top” either in conversation or reading. I can only assume it’s a regional saying rather than a common UK saying as a whole.

Inserting my todger into the top of a welly would not be a comfortable experience. You do hear about “rough sex” and I think that’s what would occur.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

You learn something new everyday no matter how old you are. In 60 years of sexual activity beginning in my mid-teens I’ve never heard of the phrase “a fanny like a welly top” either in conversation or reading. I can only assume it’s a regional saying rather than a common UK saying as a whole.

I've never heard it as a saying, but unlike the American-raised amongst us, I have an immediate vivid image of what it means and it's implying a wide-open flapping loose opening. I'm sure.ive heard the general comparison before.

 

[SexyShel]

I quite like "slack as a wizard's sleeve", an unfortunate but visually intriguing husband-ism

Yes, I have already written that one into the story, just needed the second reference.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Yes it was. It was a heavy, heavy artillery piece but it is still a cannon.

And big enough to fill your canyon .