Urban Dictionary says the primary definition of “kicks” is shoes, but what they really mean is spiffy shoes. I haven’t heard anyone say the word “kicks” in this context since the Ford administration, if that. Some words die from attrition; the culture loses interest and they fall off the vine. Has anyone used or heard “kicks” anytime this century, or even during Reagan-Bush-Clinton? There’s one shoe term that I know is dead and gone for the most part, and that’s “sporty.” The only people who say “sporty” are 70something guys who play golf or conservatives who own yachts or older Wall Street dicks. In Out Of The Past Robert Mitchum bought a pair like this when he was in Acapulco looking for Jane Greer, and then suddenly Kirk Douglas showed up, looked down at the new shoes, grinned and called them “sporty.” That was 70 years ago. “Sporty” is finished.