On Sun, 29 May 2016 23:53:57 -0300, Joy Beeson
wrote:

On Sun, 29 May 2016 14:17:11 +0700, John B.
wrote:

What is a "Newspaper sleeve"? It sounds like some sort of paper bag?

On rainy days, the paper boy delivers our paper in a long, narrow
plastic bag.

O.K. I understand. Over here we have "umbrella bags, to store your wet
umbrella in when you enter a store. Perhaps a little longer though :-)

I've become accustomed to referring to plastic bags of this shape as
"sleeves", as in "we have twelve sleeves of paper cups". That meaning
of "sleeve" would be a good topic to post on alt.usage.english, but
that group has too much traffic already.

I see. I've always refereed to them as "tubes" of paper cups.

A newspaper sleeve makes a good bootie for riding in bitterly-cold
weather, but we've moved a few miles south of where we used to live,
so I no longer need shoe covers. I haven't shaken the habit of not
throwing them out, and I don't need many for snack organizers and map
covers, so I've collected a grocery bag full.

But now that I have given up wearing shoes, I might need the bread-bag
trick next winter. (The traditional shoe cover was a bread bag.) For
walking to the church on a slushy day a few years ago, I pulled
newspaper sleeves over my heavy socks, then held the bags in place
with black nylon knee socks, the cheap, thin kind that won't hold much
water. Then sandals over that. It kept my feet warmer than my snow
boots.

Give up wearing shoes? Goodness, it must get a bit nippy wading
through the snow back there. Christmas time, sleigh bells in the air
and yuletide by the fireside (and cold toes :-)

For cycling, one puts them on over the shoes -- and carries spares for
the trip back. Slot cleats cut a hole in the plastic in exactly the
right place; I don't know whether the trick would work with clipless
cleats.
--
cheers,

John B.