If you're not really careful, though, they quickly become Lipton Cup O' Foot Soup. I am rarely really careful, so I don't bother with galoshes. My socks may be wet, but at least there's flow-through. It's the simple things that make life so grand. Things like sticking your head through a hole.
Ponchos are nice that way.
They're also nice because they're generally big enough to protect any backpacks, purses, pages, PDAs, leathermen, or South American clinging primates you might be carrying on you. And if you're as tall as I am they can be used as a Slip 'N' Slide in the summer months. Umbrellas These are so nice and playful and fun and enjoyable that I'm willing to overlook the fact that they don't work worth driveway gravel. Unless you come from the Magical Land of Entirely Vertical Precipitation, your entire lower body is going to get soaked by any stroll longer than from the car to the coffee shop. But more effective rain protection rarely comes in the shape of a happy frog head, so it's a trade-off.