Another Regionalism-Specific Question for California

[nightrose83]

Hi again everybody,

This comm's been a big help in assisting me, so I thought I'd ask another question about regional dialects. I have a character, formerly of Los Angeles and I'm wondering what she'd call athletic shoes. So far, I've been having her call them 'sneakers,' but this link:

http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/state_CA.html

says that referring to them as 'tennis shoes' is more common with 'sneakers' being second percentage-wise. I was wondering how accurate the sampling is to those of you from the area. With this being a character for a roleplay and editing for the format of said roleplay being next to impossible, I may have some retconning or 'splaining to do when it comes to her choice of words. Her family is originally from the northeast, where, from my experience, they're called 'sneakers' almost exclusively. She was a young child when she moved from there, however, and I've had her mention before that she's gotten some odd looks from some people when she called them that.

So my question is, are they 'sneakers', 'tennis shoes' or is it an individual preference thing? If anyone has any links or personal stories to share, please do.

Research and questioned used for Googling:

'What are athletic shoes called in Los Angeles?'
'Are they sneakers or tennis shoes in California?'

Edit: Got what I need, thanks!

Thanks much for the help!