Where I was born in a European country, it was positively unthinkable. Nobody ever wore outside shoes inside. In fact, my grandma would be upset if I set in my daily jeans upon my bed - jeans that set in school seat, street car seat, benches, dirt, etc, should not be in contact with where I'll sleep.
In USA and Canada, it seems to largely be an instinct to say "Don't take off your shoes, please!" out of politeness.
I think there are other aspects too, though they get fuzzier.
In my country/childhood, kids were discouraged from playing on the floor in unfamiliar places. I observe less of that in Canada. Most dogs were "outdoor animals", whereas here dogs are pervasively inside. Many people sleep with dogs in their bed!! Completely crazy to me and completely normal to my Canadian wife :-)
> Experience limited to Ontario and every province east of it.
In that case I'll chip in with my experience with every province west of it: it's the same. No shoes inside - ffs the prairies have snow on the ground half the year.
Most American houses where I live have mud rooms. I think you may be generalizing based on house design. New Englanders certainly do; Ranches do not. Split-Levels have a landing that are used as a mud room.
I think they are common in the midwest? Wherever it snows a lot, you'll have a mud room to change from outside to inside clothes. If you are somewhere that doesn't snow, you might not ever realize those kinds of rooms exist.
> In fact, my grandma would be upset if I set in my daily jeans upon my bed - jeans that set in school seat, street car seat, benches, dirt, etc, should not be in contact with where I'll sleep.
This. And not only where you sleep.
Public transport seats or even chairs that were used by many, many people over the years are just yuck.
Same with door handles (i so hate the Americanbones - you can't use your elbow or wrist to push them!), public transport, handrails, ATM pinpads...
> Public transport seats or even chairs that were used by many, many people over the years are just yuck. Same with door handles (i so hate the Americanbones - you can't use your elbow or wrist to push them!), public transport, handrails, ATM pinpads...
At what point do you come to the terms with our inability to eliminate all germs and get on with life? I apologize if it's a condition and not just a preference.
Lmao agreed. Some people are grossed out by the thought of an object being used by other people and not because of any scientific concern about disease. It’s a psychosomatic condition
I opted specifically for a fixed office desk as i don't share my keyboard / mouse with others, and it grosses me out if people use mine or i have to use theirs.
Laugh all you want, just observe the typical shiny keycaps of most people's keyboards. You won't find those on mine, i wash hands frequently.
Btw: i bet quite some of you who are laughing about my 'regulations' just started to wash hands and wear masks because the CDC etc. told you so, and saw no issues with it.
I'm sorry but if you set foot in my clean house you clean your hands and keep your shoes away from my clean floor. God knows where you've been and what you've touched before
I eat unwashed roadside fruits, stuff from fields, etc. am not too picky re: freshness of foods etc., use public pools (...just hope people really shower before they dive in) or the office / restaurant restroom, etc.
Just don't have an desire to sit in seats where bums and people with god-knows-what conditions have been, or hold onto rails touched by people scratching their butt. Washing hands frequently, espeially after handling cash + followed by having a snack. Didn't your parents teach you that?
Not having issues with dirt etc., if it is MY dirt. How many strangers to you willingly exchange frsh or dried bodily fluids with?
Also a reason i have absolutely no intention to ever visit India, if i don't have to for business reasons. And i've walked Ethopian streets.
I've seen people work themselves into knots trying to figure out how a house could possibly be clean enough to walk around in one's socks. That indoor floors are somehow so intrinsically dirty that one simply must keep one's shoes on to avoid contamination. And I always wanted to ask: How else would we keep our floors clean?
Ha, I used to live in a condo with all hardwood floors, and we only ever wore shoes in the entryway by the front door (to take them on and off).
When I'd mop the rest of the condo with those disposable Swiffer mop pads, the mop pads would only get a little dingy, but when I'd mop the one specific part of the entryway where we wore shoes, the mop pads would instantly turn dark grey, almost black.
I believe it largely what climat you are living in and also you grew up. Places where snow and rain is common pretty much always expect you to take shoes off. Places where weather is dry are more likely to accept shoes on.
Also people who come from wet places to dry places will still not want anyone wearing shoes at their homes.
Canadian here - every household I've been in is take shoes off at the door. I think it's culturally built in most places that experience a lot of snow. If for half the year your taking off your boots you get in the habbit of taking off your shoes too.
Canadian here, from the warm part, where we only see snow a few days a year. We're still all taking our shoes off, except degenerate college students and recent American immigrants.
> In USA and Canada, it seems to largely be an instinct to say "Don't take off your shoes, please!" out of politeness.
I'm in Canada and this is true, but I've found that this is usually said when I'm already far enough into taking my shoes off that it would be too weird to go "alright then" and put them back on. I also find it awkward to keep my shoes on in someone else's house. As if I'm some sort of special guest with special privileges that allow me to bring dirt into their house, while the owner of the house clearly isn't wearing outside shoes. I would actually much prefer someone saying "please take your shoes off", and avoid the whole awkward and illogical politeness ritual.
edit: I forgot to say, I am in Canada (Quebec), but not Canadian, so it's probably also a cultural difference that makes me feel this way. I am from the Netherlands, where wearing your outside shoes in the house is very unusual. Someone telling me to keep my shoes on in the house is almost like someone telling me "please don't wash your hands" after going to their bathroom.
Canadian culture is indeed structured around awkward and illogical politeness rituals which can make you crazy. And for the most part they are more like "politeness signalling", just a façade of niceties without any actual kindness or consideration behind them. In the end I had to leave because it amounts to a kind of omnipresent cultural gaslighting.
I once triggered a pretty severe allergic reaction from my partner because of the pollen and dust I unintentionally brought inside after working out in the yard all day.
I believe this question extends to any claim of what didn't happen.
We make an educated guess, try to collect data in a study that is hopefully a bit controlled, then paint a picture of what we think it means and why things happened (or didn't happen).
I immigrated to SE Asia, certainly it was very different.
99% of indoor surfaces (and some outdoor areas too) are tile floors, or polished concrete/granite/terrazio. These are really easy to keep clean by just sweeping for 5 minutes. The few carpets I've seen were always really gross. No way I'm taking off my shoes to walk on that!
We don't wear shoes/sandals or socks indoors overall. It's normal to walk barefoot, even at many workplaces.
Socks are a weird thing that we wear to travel somewhere cold, or if we have to wear shoes for some reason (very formal events or workplaces, or for safety). Some people wear socks to sleep.
Sometimes we have a separate set of sandals to wear in the bathroom. You take those off before entering the rest of the house.
The other use of sandals is a form of low-damage ammunition for parental authorities to launch at you. We have a lot of memes about this.
well, you take them off because usually "don't take off your shoes" is itself only said out of politeness, and they really would rather you take your shoes off — Canadian logic.
I think I'm surrounded with absolutely deranged dog people. I think every person in my friend and work group with a dog sleeps with them in their bed. It's totally insane to me. I am not exactly a fan of most pets in general, but if I owned a pet, they definitely wouldn't be allowed in my bedroom. When I tell this to my friends they always say, "Oh, just you wait, you won't be able to resist." I'm certain that I would prefer to have my own space, thank you very much.
This may raise a lot of hackles (pun unintended but retained), but IMO, that practice, and the one just above (the mom/dad and bed points) may be being done (grammar?) as a substitute to having good human relationships, due the somewhat common phenomenon of alienation that seems to exist for some people nowadays (anecdotal, just observed by me, but also heard others talking about it, including with me). And by relationships, I don't mean just a male-female or other intimate relationship.
I'm not sure, that kind of alienation is common in younger people in the Western world, whereas the dog mommy/daddy seems to be an English-speaking (if not American) phenomenon, and used by adults.
I am a Millennial from Europe, and I am well acquainted with the alienation of my generation, but the dog mommy thing doesn't exist in the country I'm from, and sounds something a suburban mom in her 40s would say. It makes me cringe.
I had dogs and cats growing up, and I considered my "mates" or friends rather than my children. They lived in the house, able to come and go outside, but were absolutely forbidden from sleeping on beds (except cats when the beds are empty because they don't care) or from soliciting food at the table while we were eating.
I’m not saying you can’t treat your pet well, or even spoil them sometimes. They are friends, they may even be “family”. They are complete individuals in their own right. But they aren’t human. Lately I’ve been wondering if treating them as children is bordering on animal abuse.
I’m Canadian and have lived in the Atlantic provinces as well as Ontario. I have never seen anyone wear shoes inside aside from workers who are required to have steel toed boots on.
Where I was born in a European country, it was positively unthinkable. Nobody ever wore outside shoes inside. In fact, my grandma would be upset if I set in my daily jeans upon my bed - jeans that set in school seat, street car seat, benches, dirt, etc, should not be in contact with where I'll sleep.
In USA and Canada, it seems to largely be an instinct to say "Don't take off your shoes, please!" out of politeness.
I think there are other aspects too, though they get fuzzier.
In my country/childhood, kids were discouraged from playing on the floor in unfamiliar places. I observe less of that in Canada. Most dogs were "outdoor animals", whereas here dogs are pervasively inside. Many people sleep with dogs in their bed!! Completely crazy to me and completely normal to my Canadian wife :-)