A sock hop
or sox hop, often also called a record hop or just a hop, was an informal
sponsored dance event for teenagers in mid-20th-century North America,
featuring popular music. It was commonly held at high schools and other
educational institutions, often in the school gym or cafeteria. The term came
about because dancers were required to remove their hard-soled shoes to protect
the varnished floor of the gymnasium. The music at a sock hop was usually
played from vinyl records, sometimes presented by a disc jockey. Occasionally
there were also live bands.
Sock hops
were held as early as 1944 by the American Junior Red Cross to raise funds
during World War II. They then became a fad among American teenagers in 1948.
In later years, "hops" became strongly associated with the 1950s and
early rock and roll. Danny and the Juniors sang "At the Hop" in 1957,
which named many popular dances and otherwise documented what happened at a
hop.
In
subsequent decades, with the widespread popularity of sneakers and other types
of indoors-only shoes, the practice of removing shoes was dropped. The term
then came to be applied more generally to any informal dance for teenagers.
The term
caught on in England in the late 1980s during a British rockabilly revival, led
by groups like The Stray Cats. "Life Begins at the Hop", a song celebrating sock
hops, became the first charting single for XTC.
Gymnasium
A gym,
short for gymnasium, is an open air or covered location for gymnastics and
athletics and gymnastic services such as in schools and colleges, from the
ancient Greek gymnasium.
Gymnasia
apparatus such as bar-bells, parallel bars, jumping board, running path,
tennis-balls, cricket field, fencing gallery, and so forth are used as
exercises. In safe weather, outdoor locations are the most conductive to
health. Gyms were popular in ancient Greece. Their curricula included
Gymnastica militraria or self-defense, gymnastica medica, or physical therapy
to help the sick and injured, and gymnastica athletica for physical fitness and
sports, from boxing to dance.
The Greek
term gymnasion (γυμνάσιον) was used in Ancient Greece to describe a locality
for both physical and intellectual education of young men. The latter meaning
of intellectual education persisted in Greek, German and other languages to
denote a certain type of school providing secondary education, the gymnasium,
whereas in English the meaning of physical education was pertained in the word
'gym'.
The Greek
word gymnasium means "school for naked exercise" and was used to
designate a locality for the education of young men, including physical
education (gymnastics, i.e. exercise) which was customarily performed naked, as
well as bathing, and studies. For the Greeks, physical education was considered
as important as cognitive learning. Most Greek gymnasia had libraries that
could be utilized after relaxing in the baths.
