The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #84451   Message #1559134
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
08-Sep-05 - 12:44 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: When First I Came to Caledonia
Subject: RE: lyric req;when first I came to caledonia
Brogan is still heard as the name for a work shoe in the United States, although it has become rare. Quite common before WW2.
Brogue also was used, but I think it has disappeared. It was applied also to a kind of wing-tip shoe in the States and Canada.

I like the OED definition for brogan:
"A rude kind of shoe, generally made of untanned hide, worn by the inhabitants of the wilder parts of Ireland and the Scotch Highlands."