Why don’t Americans take shoes off inside the house?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blue blood easterners in the business and professional classes would think it exceptionally gauche to remove shoes and walk around a house in barefeet or in sweaty socks.

Maybe I’m not blue blood or east coast enough, but I don’t wear shoes inside my own house but not because of hygiene, just comfort. I don’t expect guests to remove their shoes and don’t find it appropriate unless they’re close friends and it’s a less formal gathering. If it’s raining or sloppy outside, I think people do generally take their shoes off if it’s easy. But it’s definitely not a hard and fast rule.

I get Asian cultures that have been doing this for centuries insisting on it. But people not from a culture like this just come off as pretentious and/or irrationally afraid of dirt when they insist that guests remove their shoes.

Irrational?

No, irrational is wearing your footwear outside where you're stepping on feces, vomit, spit, human waste, animal waste, pollutants, dirty, mud, grime, insects, and then still thinking there is no problem wearing that in your house. So nasty. That's what's really irrational.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blue blood easterners in the business and professional classes would think it exceptionally gauche to remove shoes and walk around a house in barefeet or in sweaty socks.

Maybe I’m not blue blood or east coast enough, but I don’t wear shoes inside my own house but not because of hygiene, just comfort. I don’t expect guests to remove their shoes and don’t find it appropriate unless they’re close friends and it’s a less formal gathering. If it’s raining or sloppy outside, I think people do generally take their shoes off if it’s easy. But it’s definitely not a hard and fast rule.

I get Asian cultures that have been doing this for centuries insisting on it. But people not from a culture like this just come off as pretentious and/or irrationally afraid of dirt when they insist that guests remove their shoes.

Irrational?

No, irrational is wearing your footwear outside where you're stepping on feces, vomit, spit, human waste, animal waste, pollutants, dirty, mud, grime, insects, and then still thinking there is no problem wearing that in your house. So nasty. That's what's really irrational.

Thanks for giving voice to the irrationality of mysophobia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We take our shoes off, but we are from Europe. Americans just don't have the same culture of cleanliness that Europe and Asia does.

You’ve got to be joking. You think Europeans are cleaner than Americans? LOL

[Anonymous]

I am Irish-American but I have also lived in Brazil and Austria. Not shoes-off at all in those countries.

[Anonymous]

OP - do you wear shoes in your in-laws "shoes on" home or take them off? If you take them off, do you then clean your feet when you get home?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Flooring gets SO dirty and stained from shoes on! Never mind the germs. We were shoes on growing up and it was gross. Shoes off!

Really? Because I don't see any evidence of this. Just vacuum / mop as usual.

Thinking that shoes off is cleaner is psychological more than anything else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blue blood easterners in the business and professional classes would think it exceptionally gauche to remove shoes and walk around a house in barefeet or in sweaty socks.

This is it exactly. I’d never thought of it like this, but my Dad would be so confused and a bit offended if you asked him to remove his shoes. And the whole “barefoot is a class below me” side had never really occurred to me but….it tracks. A bit of the WASP culture.

This! Lots of Americans who have professional jobs also wear dressy boots. I just can’t imagine taking those off and walking barefoot or in socks at someone’s home. It is a wasp thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We take our shoes off, but we are from Europe. Americans just don't have the same culture of cleanliness that Europe and Asia does.

I am a boomer American and agree with this. Many Americans are boorish...with poor manners and hygiene. Also, ours is a " me me" society unlike more community- minded cultures in Europe + Asia. People in the US tend to have less regard for others.

The idea of people wearing shoes in a house that they've worn outside in dirty sidewalks, streets, etc. is so gross.

[Anonymous]

Don't we have this same thread every month or so?

[Anonymous]

I come from what you could call a WASP New England background, and for me it's seasonal. In the cold months, I wear shoes in the house, though I'll take them off it they're wet or muddy, of course. We have a dog and kids, if that matters. In the summer, I usually go barefoot inside and out, unless I actually leave the house/yard and go somewhere. In that case, I'm usually wearing sandals, so those come off when I get home because it's more comfortable. In one of the instances where I'm wearing proper shoes and socks, I'll usually leave them on, at last for a bit. Walking around inside in the winter in socks or bare feet is feels weird and cold. Wearing slippers feels like I'm wearing pajamas.

I'm not moralizing here, just explaining my perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do find it entertaining how defensive shoes on people get on this website. I wonder if there are people who start this thread every month or two just to see how riled up they can get these people, LOL!

I think they get defensive because the shoes-off people tend to get a bit worked up and treat them like blasphemers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Shoes track lead, so pediatricians recommend removing shoes if there’s a crawler in the house.

Our family is Swedish and Korean, and we’ve always been shoes off regardless.

They do? This was probably true back when leaded gas was in use, but that's been a good 40 years now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blue blood easterners in the business and professional classes would think it exceptionally gauche to remove shoes and walk around a house in barefeet or in sweaty socks.

Maybe I’m not blue blood or east coast enough, but I don’t wear shoes inside my own house but not because of hygiene, just comfort. I don’t expect guests to remove their shoes and don’t find it appropriate unless they’re close friends and it’s a less formal gathering. If it’s raining or sloppy outside, I think people do generally take their shoes off if it’s easy. But it’s definitely not a hard and fast rule.

I get Asian cultures that have been doing this for centuries insisting on it. But people not from a culture like this just come off as pretentious and/or irrationally afraid of dirt when they insist that guests remove their shoes.

Irrational?

No, irrational is wearing your footwear outside where you're stepping on feces, vomit, spit, human waste, animal waste, pollutants, dirty, mud, grime, insects, and then still thinking there is no problem wearing that in your house. So nasty. That's what's really irrational.

What kind of hellhole do you live in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blue blood easterners in the business and professional classes would think it exceptionally gauche to remove shoes and walk around a house in barefeet or in sweaty socks.

Maybe I’m not blue blood or east coast enough, but I don’t wear shoes inside my own house but not because of hygiene, just comfort. I don’t expect guests to remove their shoes and don’t find it appropriate unless they’re close friends and it’s a less formal gathering. If it’s raining or sloppy outside, I think people do generally take their shoes off if it’s easy. But it’s definitely not a hard and fast rule.

I get Asian cultures that have been doing this for centuries insisting on it. But people not from a culture like this just come off as pretentious and/or irrationally afraid of dirt when they insist that guests remove their shoes.

Irrational?

No, irrational is wearing your footwear outside where you're stepping on feces, vomit, spit, human waste, animal waste, pollutants, dirty, mud, grime, insects, and then still thinking there is no problem wearing that in your house. So nasty. That's what's really irrational.

What kind of hellhole do you live in?

Exactly. Functioning adults can walk outside and manage to avoid stepping in things.

[Anonymous]

[url]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If a person does have sweaty smelly feet, do you make them take their shoes off.

Some people are under arm sweaters, some are head sweaters and others sweat through their feet.

Ugh and it reeked. I had to rip carpets out after a house guest transferred their funk to my stair runners. As the funk lingered long after they left. Pee yew!

They were Brits by the way.

Maybe Asian people aren’t foot sweaters.

People have smelly feet BECAUSE they wear shoes and socks too much.

It’s genes some people have stinky sweat and some don’t. It’s all in the apocrine glands.

If my bf took his shoes off at your house you’d be sorry, very, very sorry you’d asked.

If you only invite Asians into your home then you would have no idea just how stinky feet can be. Asians lack the stinky sweat gene.