Sneakers/Trainers

Question

These names might apply reasonably specifically to 'basketball shoes' or generically to 'sports shoes' in some parts of the English-speaking world, but not everywhere. Why not use 'tennis shoes' in a story based around tennis ? ( « les baskets » is appropriately covered in another of the writing topics ).

Accepted Answer

Hi Maarten,
Both cette paire de tennis and cette paire de baskets are accepted in this exercise and it is up to the author to choose what they think is appropriate from their experience in France.
The term 'basket' is used a lot in France for leisure shoes, particularly for 'converse' type shoes and you may have heard the expression -
Elle est mal dans ses baskets = Elle est mal dans sa peau 
which I always find difficult to translate into good English.
Bonne Continuation!

Answer

I have come across < dans sa peau > but must admit < dans ses baskets > hadn’t crossed my path previously !