bovver boots

[apprentice]

What are other informal names for bovver/skin boots? Doc Marten's?

Regards,
Pawel

[Nick Wagg]

"apprentice" <mail...@wp.pl> wrote in message
news:48ec5$438f5e39$d4ba586d$18...@news.chello.pl...

>
> What are other informal names for bovver/skin boots? Doc Marten's?

"Bovver boots" were termed as such in the 1970s and referred to any
hard wearing boot that was worn for the purpose of being able to kick
someone else hard. "Bovver" is just a badly spoken version of "bother"
which is another word for "trouble", particularly in the phrase "spot of
bother".

They didn't refer to any particular make of boot but Doc Marten's
did fall into that class, but so did anything with steel toe caps, such
as industrial protective footwear, or even hiking boots. They were
often worn by "skinheads", hence "skin boots", who were/are thugs
who shaved their heads as a mark of identity.

I can't think of any alternative terms that are in current use.