'Thongs' has two completely different meanings depending on country. In Australia and New Zealand it means flip-flops — the rubber-soled sandals you wear to the beach. In American and British English it primarily means a style of underwear or swimwear with a narrow back strap. If your Australian-influenced teen says 'I need new thongs for summer' they are talking about beach footwear, not lingerie. Context and accent are the giveaways. Confusing but harmless — many an Australian visitor to the US has caused embarrassment by asking where they can buy 'a cheap pair of thongs'.
thongs
Australian: flip-flops — the footwear, not the underwear.
Seen in the wild
3 citations · last seen May 2026
Seen in the wild
BlueskyMay 2026
Need your get some of those thongs to wear with my cage 😵💫😵💫
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BlueskyMay 2026
I can already hear those thongs 2 x test clicks/closes every time you pick them up 😜
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BlueskyMay 2026
Morning to you! Your thong, while very cool, is not my particular peccadillo. I'm a tighty whities guy...bikini briefs and even panties, but you go ahead and rock your thongs! You still have a delicious cock for me to…
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Wikipedia: Thong
Thongs come in a variety of styles depending on the thickness, material or type of the rear portion of fabric and are used by both men and women throughout most of the world.
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Wikipedia: Thong
Thongs are almost always designed to cover the genitals, anus, and perineum and leave part or most of the buttocks uncovered.
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Definitions
Australia
+445100%
#1·Apr 24, 2026AUS
Australian: flip-flops — the footwear, not the underwear. A source of confusion for Americans every summer. Thongs are worn to servos, beaches, pubs, and weddings (depending on the pub and the wedding). Banned only in the fanciest establishments.
"Mate just grab your thongs and let's go."
Origin: Regional vernacular; long-established in its native community.
For parents
'Thongs' has two completely different meanings depending on country. In Australia and New Zealand it means flip-flops — the rubber-soled sandals you wear to the beach. In American and British English it primarily means a style of underwear or swimwear with a narrow back strap. If your Australian-influenced teen says 'I need new thongs for summer' they are talking about beach footwear, not lingerie. Context and accent are the giveaways. Confusing but harmless — many an Australian visitor to the US has caused embarrassment by asking where they can buy 'a cheap pair of thongs'.
For ESL learners
'Thongs' is a famous false friend across English varieties: in Australian and New Zealand English it means flip-flops (the rubber sandal); in American and British English it primarily means a narrow style of underwear or swimwear. Register: neutral in Australian English; potentially embarrassing in other varieties without context. In international writing prefer 'flip-flops' (footwear) or 'thong underwear' (clothing) to remove ambiguity. A common learner mistake — even for advanced speakers — is to apply the Australian meaning in the US, where listeners will likely picture underwear.
Heard in the wild
“Need your get some of those thongs to wear with my cage 😵💫😵💫”
— Bluesky· May 2026“I can already hear those thongs 2 x test clicks/closes every time you pick them up 😜”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Morning to you! Your thong, while very cool, is not my particular peccadillo. I'm a tighty whities guy...bikini briefs and even panties, but you go ahead and rock your thongs! You still have a delicious cock for me to fancy.”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Thongs come in a variety of styles depending on the thickness, material or type of the rear portion of fabric and are used by both men and women throughout most of the world.”
“Thongs are almost always designed to cover the genitals, anus, and perineum and leave part or most of the buttocks uncovered.”
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For specific readers
Why is this section here?
Slang is read by different audiences for very different reasons. The For parents view re-explains the term in plain, non-judgemental language so a caregiver can understand what their child means without needing the surrounding subculture. The For English learners view focuses on register (when it's safe to use), formal alternatives, and common mistakes — what a textbook won't teach you.
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Australia
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🇦🇺About Australian & NZ slang slang
Aussie and Kiwi vocabulary — bogan, daggy, brekkie, sheila, bach, jandals — the whole Antipodean lexicon, including outback dialect, surf and beach culture, and Sydney/Melbourne street slang.
See all Australian & NZ slang slang on Slangora.
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Semantically related
- thongs szn72%
The glorious warm-weather stretch when flip-flops (called thongs in Australia and parts of NZ) officially replace closed-toe footwear as the default shoe for every occasion, appropriate or not. Thongs szn is declared at the first convincing stretch of sun and lasts until someone makes you wear actual shoes again. It's less about fashion and more about a collective seasonal surrender to comfort: grocery runs, beach days, restaurants with a dress code that you interpret generously. Thongs szn has no official end date — only a cold snap.
- thongs coded69%
Describing a person, place, or vibe that screams casual, sun-drenched, zero-formality Australian or beach-town energy — the kind of effortlessly relaxed aesthetic where thongs are the correct footwear for literally everything. Thongs coded venues don't have dress codes; thongs coded people show up to events technically in the right outfit but somehow still in flip-flops. It's a compliment in most contexts — shorthand for unpretentious, beach-adjacent, and constitutionally incapable of taking anything too seriously.
- jandal68%
Jandal is the quintessential New Zealand word for flip-flops — those lightweight rubber thong sandals that are practically the national footwear. While Australians say thongs and Americans say flip-flops, Kiwis have jandals, and they're fiercely proud of it. The word is so embedded in NZ culture that it's used as a symbol of the laid-back Kiwi lifestyle, and you'll see it in everything from casual conversation to national advertising.
- safety thongs67%
(AU, informal, humorous) Inappropriate or unsafe footwear in an industrial workplace.
- plugger67%
(Australia) A thong or flip-flop.