untangle when caught? rungs of the chair?

[curiousmarcus]

A child sitting Indian style facing the back of a chair, gets his slippers caught between the seat and one of the rungs exclaims, "My slippers are caught."

Me: "Figure it out".

I was going to say Untangle them, but thought untangle might not be the correct term for the action, as we say the slippers as caught, not tangled. What's a good word to use?

Also, are those called rungs?

 

[Barb_D]

I would call them rungs, and personally, I think "You need to figure it out" is exactly the right thing to say.

 

[curiousmarcus]

I would call them rungs, and personally, I think "You need to figure it out" is exactly the right thing to say.

I thought so, too. But just for the sake of it, do you untangle your slippers from the chair? Oh, I just realized free​ would be a better word. Is it not?

 

[Rover_KE]

To me, 'rungs' are almost always associated with ladders.

In this context, I'd call them slats.

 

[GoesStation]

A little Googling tells me that chairmakers call those horizontal supports stretchers.​ This isn't part of everyday vocabulary though.