The BBC missed a great opportunity to educate the general public today:
BBC: Shoelace tag valued above gold
A simple tag to prevent shoelaces from fraying was deemed to be worth more than gold by the indigenous Cubans who traded with Christopher Columbus…
These tags were used from the 15th Century onwards in Europe, to prevent the ends of laces fraying, and to ease threading in the points for fastening clothes.
The native Taino people of Cuba often threaded the tags into necklaces.
The word's not tag; it's aglet.
