can we use "trip over the floor" to express "you fall because your flip flops, sandals, etc have too much friction on the floor"?

Question

Ok, this is the symptom that people who wear flip flops or sandals have.

That is flip flops or sandals have too much friction on the floor.

So when a person in flip flops etc walks, they may fall or nearly fall because the flip flops have strong friction on the floor & may cause a force that stops that person moving forward, but since the person is walking so he has a momentum of moving forward.

These 2 opposite forces may make him fall down.

trip [intransitive] to catch your foot on something and fall or almost fall

She tripped and fell.

trip over/on something Someone will trip over that cable.

(figurative) I was tripping over my words in my excitement to tell them the news.

trip over/up Be careful you don't trip up on the step.

So, may I say?

My toddler tripped over the floor in her sandals

People often trip over a cable or a step, I am not sure if people do trip over the floor?

We may say "trip on the floor" but that may cause confusing because people may think "trip over a cable on the floor"

Answer 1

Interesting question!

I don't think "tripping over the floor" fits what you are trying to describe. When we trip over something, the 'something' is an object that caused us to stumble. Tripping over the floor would imply that perhaps some of the flooring is loose and has caused an obstruction.

In British English (possibly American too?) we have an idiomatic expression "tripping over your own feet", which means to stumble while walking, without having tripped over anything.

This expression seems more appropriate to what you are describing, as no object is causing the stumbling - the footwear is just making it difficult for the wearer to lift their feet.

As an aside, some cases of "tripping over one's feet" are examples of the medical condition foot drop, in which a muscular weakness makes lifting the feet difficult.