Posted on 07/31/2022 7:11:02 AM PDT by aquila48
It’s a thorny issue that can cause heated debate but, like so many things in Britain, social standing made it even more complicated.
To be fair, the debate was sparked by my uncle. “I am perplexed,” he emailed me a couple of months ago, “by tradesmen who are determined to take their perfectly clean boots off before entering a lived-in, dog-strewn house like ours. And yesterday, a friend who lives in an even scruffier and doggier house apologised for having his clean, dry gumboots on when he called, having been making a bonfire at home. Keep them on I say, and have a run around with the Dyson afterwards.”
I decided to mention this “shoes on or shoes off” question in my Sunday Telegraph column. Have we become more of a shoes-off nation since the pandemic, I wondered, because we’re now so wimpy about germs?
A lively, six-week correspondence kicked off on the letters page. Some pointed out that removing shoes was a matter of respect, not just hygiene. One lady said that the shoes-off-at-the-door rule meant she knew which of her children were in the house when she returned from work.
Another insisted that, since socks and stockings are sold in the hosiery department, asking guests to remove their shoes and reveal them was “on a par with expecting them to remove their shirts and blouses and sit around in their underwear”. (Hard to fault the logic.) Jennie from Cheltenham wrote that she’d once lived in Borneo where removing shoes is the custom, but this caused havoc at a dinner party after her puppy scattered 30 pairs of shoes in the garden.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Growing up on a farm with lots of animals, shoes off. No brainer.
It’s half the time where I am now. Depends what you’re doing outside. Is it muddy and raining? Did you mow the lawn and has clippings all over? Did you step in dog crap? Again, no brainers.
“It’s half the time where I am now. Depends what you’re doing outside. Is it muddy and raining? Did you mow the lawn and has clippings all over? Did you step in dog crap? Again, no brainers.”
I agree. It depends - just common sense, something that seems to be a rare commodity these days.
beat me to it..
America wasn’t built with this fussy leftist stuff, but this is where we are headed, along with the idea that men should position the toilet seat for women, elimination of urinals, going to vegetable based eating and all the other traits of a female dominated culture.
Have you looked around the toilet in your house?
“”Middle Class” = White”
No, this is from a Brit - who are still very class conscious.
Boots off. Working in a horse barn, who wants all that manure tracked around?
I only take my shoes off inside in the summer if it’s raining. Once there’s snow on the ground I always take them off. But as long as it’s dry outside, I see no need to take off my shoes.
“We just limit the number of people that can actually enter our house. ;-D”
Yes, I suppose that is a valid approach - seek a higher class of people to associate with than tends to be found in my neighborhood!
;>)
Or. in other words. it depends.
Just use a bit of common sense. There are times when it makes sense to take them off and others that don’t.
I picked up the habit of taking my shoes off in the house from my ex-wife. I don’t always do it, and I never impose it on guests. For me, it’s mostly a matter of comfort, not cleanliness.
It is wise to wear shoes in the basement machine shop and in the electronics lab in the spare bedroom. Those little metal sharpie-thingies stay with you for awhile.
“For me, it’s mostly a matter of comfort”
I keep them on for comfort. I hate having to take off and put on shoes 10 times a day.
I make sure I wipe them well before I enter the house. We also have washable rugs at the entry for more wiping.
Don’t see any dirt in the house.
Right. It’s a two way courtesy.
Oh, would you remove your shoes? House custom :)
Okay.. would you mop your floor, please?
I ‘ll never forget that Calvin and Hodge cartoon where Calvin is calling to his Mom from the front door, “HEY MOM! HEY MOM!”
“Calvin, how many times have I told you not to shout at me from across the house!”
Thump thump thump thump. “Hey Mom, I stepped in dogshit”
Shoes on.
Boots off and place on boot tray by the door.
I was once at a dinner party and everyone was taking off their shoes just inside the door BLOCKING the doorway. My safety professional side kicked in and all I could thing about was massive trip hazard, couldn’t open door, what would happen if a fire broke out...and finally I just found the situation actually downright rude. There, I said it. I would never impose such a rule on a group of houseguests.
Is it terrible to be middle class?
I lived in Hawaii many moons. No fogget take off slippahs.
I come in, shoes off, slippers on.
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