Can slippers be outdoor footwear?

[Tan Elaine]

Police said a man wearing a singlet, shorts and slippers left a suitcase at Cafe Marco on Tuesday morning.

This above report comes from Sydney. Why is slippers worn outdoors as the sentence clearly states. My understanding is that slippers are indoor footwear.

Is there an error in the usage of the word?

Thanks.

[emsr2d2]

Police said a man wearing a singlet, shorts and slippers left a suitcase at Cafe Marco on Tuesday morning.

This above report comes from Sydney. Why is slippers worn outdoors as the sentence clearly states. My understanding is that slippers are indoor footwear.

Is there an error in the usage of the word?

Thanks.

It depends. Maybe he really was wearing slippers (the indoor, comfortable variety). Whilst they are generally designed to be worn indoors, I'm sure people wear them outside quite frequently. In the UK, some people walk their children to school whilst still wearing their pyjamas because they are too lazy to get dressed in the morning!

However, we will need an Australian English speaker to tell us whether or not "slippers" can also describe a type of outdoor footwear.

In the story of Cinderella, her foot fits a "glass slipper" which in most representations looks like a normal ladies' shoe.

In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy gets back home by clicking together the heels of her "ruby slippers". Again, these are generally shown as ladies' heeled shoes.

[Gillnetter]

Police said a man wearing a singlet, shorts and slippers left a suitcase at Cafe Marco on Tuesday morning.

This above report comes from Sydney. Why is slippers worn outdoors as the sentence clearly states. My understanding is that slippers are indoor footwear.

Is there an error in the usage of the word?

Thanks.

I have heard of carpet slippers. These are for indoor wear. To me, a slipper is any footwear that doesn't have laces - I can slip my foot into the footwear and be ready to walk about. It does seem that females wear slippers more than males do. There is probably a regional variation in the description and name of this footwear.

[SoothingDave]

I'll run out to get the newspaper in my slippers sometimes. Out to the end of my driveway, that is. It's not impossible that someone was out in public in them.