Why do some people wear shoes indoors?

May 26, 2008 2:03 PM

Why do some people wear shoes in the house?

I was raised in a (East Asian) household where we took our shoes off after entering the house, so as to avoid tracking dirt and mud around the carpets. I'm aware that South Asians, Middle Easterners, some Europeans (Scandinavians at least) and even some Canadians do this as well.

However, growing up in the American southwest, I noticed that most people don't bother taking off their shoes when they enter their homes, and some even lie on their beds with their shoes on. There were a few people with very tidy homes who insisted that people take off their shoes, but they were exceptions to the norm. As far as I can tell, wearing shoes in the house seems to be mainly an American and British thing.

I'm curious why exactly people do this. I can understand that some people don't care about getting a little dirt on the floor, but from a comfort perspective it seems that it would be a lot nicer to walk around on those carpets and lie on the bed barefoot. I always look foward to taking my shoes off after coming home (and I'm a guy!)

From a convenience point of view, it doesn't take very long to take off shoes. I can see wearing shoes just to run in and grab something, but my question is more about the people who basically don't take off their shoes until bedtime.

But I'm wondering if there is also a cultural reason - do Americans/Brits see wearing shoes as a necessary part of being presentable, like wearing shirts and pants? Is going barefoot akin to walking around shirtless, or walking around with your fly unzipped?

Or is it because I was present - e.g. they might normally take off their shoes, but feel it is weird to take off their shoes in front of a guest (for the cultural reasons I mentioned above)?

I've also heard foot odor suggested, but I honestly don't buy that the vast majority of Americans have foot odor problems (and even if they do, it seems like a chicken-and-egg problem).

I realize there may be a variety of reasons why different people don't take off their shoes, and I'm interested in hearing all of them. I don't mean this to be chatfilter - I've honestly been curious about this for a while, and I'm not trying to promote my own views about it (sorry if my question came off like that).

posted by pravit to human relations (206 comments total)

data point: shoes off in the house is probably the exception, rather than the rule, in Australia. People who insist on shoes being removed are more likely to be from Asian, Subcontinental or Middle Eastern background.

Anglo-celtic or European types who insist on shoes-off are likely to either have new carpet, or else they're the kinds of people who leave the plastic wrapping on their lounge & car seats in order to 'preserve' them.
posted by UbuRoivas at 2:09 PM on May 26 [1 favorite]

In the southwest the large boots that were and are so common can be tough to get on and off. I think this is what started the trend.
posted by magikker at 2:09 PM on May 26

(in other words, i think it's a cultural thing. you do what the other Romans do)
posted by UbuRoivas at 2:10 PM on May 26

In my area it's just odd for somebody to wear shoes inside the house and I never knew it was any different elsewhere.

I suppose some people would due to temperature, comfort, or difficulty in taking them on or off.
posted by devlin at 2:11 PM on May 26

My feet hurt if I walk around barefoot. Not enough padding, or something. I nearly always wear shoes of some sort.
posted by MrMoonPie at 2:12 PM on May 26

I live in the Midwest. I take off my shoes unless I am planning to go back outside within a few minutes. There is a stereotype about southerners that involves not wearing shoes and/or a shirt equating to being a "hillbilly" or a "redneck".

Signs on stores that say "No shoes, no shirt, no service" may help reinforce this idea.
posted by double block and bleed at 2:14 PM on May 26

I live in Vancouver, Canada. People who grew up here usually take their shoes off. I've always understood that this is because of the rain (and hence the mud). But I have always wondered why anyone would want to wear their shoes, if they didn't need to do so.

I've noticed that people from Ontario wear their shoes in the house. I don't know if that holds for all Ontarians or not. Someone told me it was because people with hardwood floors keep their shoes on.

When my great uncle and his wife visited from Scotland, they insisted on keeping their shoes on. They said that wearing shoes prevents elderly people from falling and breaking a hip. (They may be right.) My grandma, who is older than either of them, was very offended. But she didn't kick them out.
posted by acoutu at 2:18 PM on May 26

This probably seems totally backwards to you, but here goes:

When I get home, pretty much the very first thing I do is kick off my shoes. Much more comfortable.

When I go to someone else's house, I wouldn't even consider taking my shoes off, unless I was requested/invited to do so. Too informal.
posted by Flunkie at 2:18 PM on May 26 [11 favorites]

I'm of Asian descent, but am American. Taking shoes off inside the house was an absolute growing up, and though I'm about as Americanized as can be, I still can't stand the thought of walking into a house with shoes on. It seems really, really dirty and unclean to me.

Even when people leave shoes on in their own house, I take mine off.
posted by waylaid at 2:19 PM on May 26

Where I grew up, on the West Coat of the United States, it wasn't super odd to have a rule of "no shoes in the house" but I always got the feeling that those people were huge pains in the ass.

Some people have foot issues and don't want to subject others to the smell of their feet. Others just buy comfortable shoes and don't feel a need to take them off. And some shoes with lots of laces are just a huge pain to take off and put on. These are among some of the many reasons I could imagine that I would not want to AUTOMATICALLY take off my shoes every time I enter a house.
posted by piratebowling at 2:19 PM on May 26 [1 favorite]

Or, of course, if I was actively tracking mud or something. But then I would be sure to politely ask if I could take my shoes off, and where I should put them. Even if it were obvious where they should go.

I am in (and from) the northeast USA.
posted by Flunkie at 2:20 PM on May 26

As you mentioned, it's pretty common in here in Canada to take your shoes off inside the house. (This may be weather-related). I think the one time I found that people INSISTED I come in the house with shoes on was when I was doing door to door beer surveys as a student while wearing Capezio sandals with a lot of lacing. People didn't care about me tracking in summer road dirt as long as they got their free beer and soda crackers. (The days I wore more sensible shoes, I slipped them off at the door automatically and no one insisted that I should keep them on.)

I think most Americans, and some Canadians, hate arriving at a party with their carefully chosen shoes, then having to take them off at the door. And if the custom is to allow guests to enter shod, it doesn't make sense to expose your naked or socked feet to the dirt other people track in. so people go shod at home as well.
posted by maudlin at 2:20 PM on May 26

(That is, as long as they got their free beer and soda crackers ASAP.)
posted by maudlin at 2:23 PM on May 26

Oh, just thought of something to reinforce the difficulty idea. I was in the airport and the guy in front of me had to take his shoes off to go through the scanner. It took two other people to help him get them off. The conversation went something like this.

TSA: "Sir you have to take off your boots."
Traveler: "Do you have a boot hawk?"
TSA: "....No"
Traveler: "Well, I can't get these off by myself with out one"
TSA: "We'll help"

The guy sat down and literally had a TSA person pull off each boot. Remember Cowboy boots don't have laces, straps or buckles. They aren't the easiest thing to get off if you're not a limber person. I figure that culturally the south west USA has a long history of that. Oh, and if you did take them off you had to check for spiders, snakes, and scorpions before you put them back on.
posted by magikker at 2:23 PM on May 26 [3 favorites]

I think you're looking at this from the wrong perspective; it's not about the floor of the house, it's about the dirt outside. Generally speaking, the Japanese do not wear shoes inside. Also generally speaking, the Japanese do not sit on the bare ground outside. On a trip to Japan in college, I asked a friend why they didn't sit on the ground/stairs/etc and was told that the ground was dirty and gross. As I understand it, generally, the Japanese see the dirt and the ground like Americans generally, see dog shit. You wouldn't sit in dog shit, nor would you walk around your house with dog shit on your shoes. Like I said, it isn't about the sanctity of the house, it's about the grossness of the ground outside the house.

So yeah, as far as I can tell, at least for the Japanese, generally speaking, it's cultural.
posted by pwb503 at 2:25 PM on May 26 [1 favorite]

When I was a kid in New England, we weren't supposed to go barefoot or sock-footed in the house. Shoes were preferred, slippers were acceptable (if only family was around). My family was very energy-conscious so the house was always chilly, and my mom hated the idea that we would wear through our socks. It was a practical thing.

Nowadays I'm barefoot if I can possibly be so.
posted by nkknkk at 2:28 PM on May 26

Huh. I'm amazed that people have such strong feelings about it. I've lived all over Canada and it's very much the norm to take off your shoes in the house. I've never known anyone who had a strict no-shoes-inside rule -- it's not an anal-retentive plastic-on-furniture thing at all, it's just more of a common-sense thing. Why would you want to track in all the gross stuff you walk around on all day into your home? And you make the floors dirtier quicker and then you've gotta do more cleaning.

Like others I'll leave my shoes on if I'm going right back out or I've gotta get something I forgot to take or whatever, but overall I like the idea that my floors are reasonably clean and I won't get blackened soles if I walk on them barefoot.
posted by loiseau at 2:28 PM on May 26

When I go to someone else's house, I wouldn't even consider taking my shoes off, unless I was requested/invited to do so. Too informal.

And maybe "informal" isn't exactly the right word, or at least might not tell the full story.

I don't take my shoes off in other people's houses unless invited/requested to do so because I feel that it would be like treating their home as my own, which I feel would be presumptuous of me unless I was explicitly invited to do so.
posted by Flunkie at 2:29 PM on May 26

In the Northeast people generally seem to take their shoes off upon going inside, but for most people it's not at all a RULE as the Asian style seems to be. An exception is for parties or events: if the thing is formal you might be dressed up, and the floor is probably getting covered in beer and ash anyway.

This also only applies for you, family, roommates, friends, guests, and so on to my experience. If I had a cable guy or something like that over it would be noticeably weird for them to take off his shoes.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 2:30 PM on May 26

It might not be much of an inconvenience but it's still an inconvenience, especially if you're going in and out.
posted by delmoi at 2:31 PM on May 26

Thanks for all the quick answers. I can totally understand not taking off your shoes in somebody else's house, so I guess I should alter my question - why do people not take off their shoes when entering their own houses?

I don't mean to moderate my own AskMe, but to avoid this becoming chatfilter, I'd like to know why people leave their shoes on, rather than if you in particular wear shoes indoors or not.
posted by pravit at 2:32 PM on May 26

I wear orthotics. Being without shoes (and therefore without my custom inserts) for any length of time gets really painful. Since I got them I went from hardly ever wearing shoes to wearing them every minute I can. If I'm home all day I still put my shoes on first thing and stomp round thee house in them. My boyfriend also wears orthotics and we have wooden floors so shoes being on is pretty much the default these days. Gait problems are actually pretty common, I know a lot of people with various types of inserts, and I'm betting that at least some of the people you know who like shoes have something similar going on.

I also get really cold feet (mostly in winter but summer too sometimes). A pair of thin floppy slippers doesn't cut it. So if I'm not wearing shoes inside I'm often wearing big-arse wool lined boots which are technically slippers but really not much different than my winter boots and occasionally get worn outside.

In NZ there seems to be a mix of shoes on or shoes off. Having wooden floors does make a difference, most people don't even ask about taking theirs off now we have no carpet. Other people I know with nice carpet always ask for shoes off. Generally when visiting I do whatever the host is doing, makes for less awkwardness in the long run.

As an aside the orthotics make my feet smell. I use stuff on them to keep it down but they're in there with my feet all day every day so it doesn't always work. So when I go visiting I tend to take a clean pair of socks to wear around the house. Keeps my feet warm and the smell contained. No one ever complains about my wearing socks around the place.
posted by shelleycat at 2:37 PM on May 26

I've noticed that people from Ontario wear their shoes in the house.

Never! Besides, 8 months of the year in Ontario (and most of Canada) you're wearing shoes that are wet or covered in snow. No one in their right mind would wear wet shoes around the house.

why do people not take off their shoes when entering their own houses?

Because 8 months of the year your shoes are wet or covered in snow. And if you're going to do it for 8 months you kind of get in the habit. Besides, even if they're dry shoes scratch up hardwood or tread dirt into carpets. It just keeps your house cleaner.

Parties vary - sometimes you'll keep your shoes on, sometimes you take them off. For Christmas parties it's not uncommon for women to show up in boots and change into a pair of dress shoes they bring along separately.
posted by GuyZero at 2:38 PM on May 26

Well, my personal non-cultural reason for wearing shoes in my own house is that I need to wear supportive shoes and orthotics to avoid getting plantar fasciitis again, so I have a pair just for the house. But I don't wear street shoes in the house, unless I'm running in and out and am staying on the main floor, which is hardwood.

If I had hardwood throughout my house, which is easier to clean than carpets, I'd have no qualms about wearing street shoes throughout, because switching the orthotics back and forth is a nuisance.
posted by maudlin at 2:38 PM on May 26

There's a thing called a doormat which rests outside all exterior doors. We wipe our shoes before entering our home so that any muck on them comes off. That said, I only wear shoes inside in winter because I don't have heating and the wood floors are a bit cold, but I do feel embarrassed when some stranger comes to the door and I have nude feet.
posted by b33j at 2:39 PM on May 26 [1 favorite]

Data point: I live in the northeastern US, and grew up elsewhere in the northeastern US. I prefer to have my shoes off inside, and used to always kick them off when I got home. I now have a chronic foot problem that makes going barefoot for any great length of time very painful, so I need to wear shoes indoors. I would like to have one pair of indoor shoes I would switch to when I came home, to avoid the dirt-tracking thing, but I'm just not that organized. I forget and wear my indoor-only shoes out for quick errands, or feel too lazy to switch from one pair of shoes to another when I get home.

I would never in a million years take my shoes off in someone else's home unless specifically invited, which I've found happens very rarely. It feels like an etiquette thing, although I don't recall ever specifically being taught that to do so would be rude - I think it's just what I observed the rule to be in other homes when I was growing up. If someone does invite me to take my shoes off I always do it because I assume they don't want their rugs messed up, and then I just try to stay off my feet so I'm not in pain too much. Eventually I have to figure out a good way to deal with the whole "I don't want to mess up your carpet but I also don't want to be in pain the whole time we're supposed to be having fun together" thing.

I very rarely notice whether a guest wears his/her shoes or not. It doesn't bother me a bit if a guest takes their shoes off in my house.
posted by Stacey at 2:40 PM on May 26

I've never examined my own behavior in this area before, it's a little odd. I take my shoes off if I come home alone or with a SO. If a guest arrives with me, I'll leave them on and assume my guest will as well.

The impression I get is that the larger the social gathering, the less likely it is to be shoeless.
Small intimate parties among friends - sometimes shoeless
Larger parties - rarely shoeless
Formal functions held at people's homes - never shoeless

This is from a childless graduate student perspective. Most of my friends with kids have firm no shoes in the house policies for the kids for obvious reasons. Visiting grownups are often exempt, but if I see a pile of shoes, I usually ask if I should take mine off, or follow the hosts lead.

It all seems to come down to giving the guest the option to keep shoes on or off. It's reasonably practical too since (for me anyway) guest traffic is negligible compared to resident traffic.
posted by pseudonick at 2:40 PM on May 26

Another data point from the center of Canada.

Taking shoes off is the default action when entering any home and proceeding past the entrance. I would consider it rude to leave your shoes on without asking the host "Do you mind if I...?" since you could be dirtying up their place.

In Manitoba this makes sense because 4/5ths of the year it is either wet, snowy, slushy, dusty, or otherwise gross outside. But also, I find having shoes on inside feels very strange. It's like watching tv with your winter jacket on or something. I can't even imagine lying on a bed with shoes on.

This rule goes even for large house parties. It's not strange to see a front entrance completely taken over by shoes when 20 + guests are over. Some of those shoes might migrate over to the door to a smoking patio, or backyard as the shoe owner requires.
posted by utsutsu at 2:41 PM on May 26

Well, I wear running shoes inside the house (in the Northeast) because I have plantar fasciitis and I notice a definite difference in the level of foot pain the next day vs. going barefoot, which would be my preference. Friends who come over almost always take their shoes off if the weather outside is wet or snowy, not necessarily otherwise. I always offer to take my shoes off when I visit friends in any weather, unless it's obviously a dress event where lack of shoes would be just weird. NEs usually bring a pair of shoes to change into after pulling off their boots if it's a winter time gathering.
posted by vers at 2:42 PM on May 26

I don't think there was a specific shoes-off or shoes-on rule in our house. I am shoe-averse and so I generally took mine off, and I think the rest of my family generally did as well (although perhaps not from being shoe-averse). A majority of my friends also had shoe-off homes, and this was growing up in Florida. Almost none of these people were any variety of Asian (central Florida not being a popular locale, I suppose).

For college (Pittsburgh), I think almost everyone was in the habit of shoes off when entering houses or apartments, although dorm rooms may have been more lenient. Some individuals were more shoe-inclined. My current house is generally shoe-off for anyone but parents, it seems, mostly due to the fact that it is a habit to remove shoes as they enter for almost all of my friends.

I like the idea of not tracking shoe dirt around the house. I don't know how pervasive one way or the other is.
posted by that girl at 2:42 PM on May 26

My (asian) family provides slippers for guests who prefer to be shod. I think we take off our shoes so we don't track in mud and dirt from the outside and so that we don't have to clean the floors every other day.
posted by captaincrouton at 2:43 PM on May 26

My parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles...basically everyone I grew up around in those two generations, kept their shoes on at home - putting their shoes on was just part of the morning ritual like brushing their teeth. Me and the other children went about barefoot at all times unless we were actually taking a trip in the car to somewhere. As a child, I just assumed it was an adult/child thing - grownups had to wear shoes. Now that I am an adult and have noticed none of my contemporaries (or myself) wearing shoes at home, I've adjusted that view, in favor of a couple of possible reasons:

1. Both of my parents come from pretty conservative families (in the American south), and they both indulge in a sort of puritanical formality which, among other things like being unable to enjoy dirty jokes (even in their own home) or displays of emotion (even in their own home) also extends to personal appearance - they would never appear in public with no shoes and they are therefore uncomfortable with the informality of being in their own home with no shoes.

2. When my grandparents were hitting middle age and my parents growing up, both families were moving into the very stereotypical American middle class, from being, before, poor farming families/we don't wear shoes because we only have one pair and don't want to mess them up-type thing. The whole passel of them settled down in ranch houses and decided there were certain standards of behavior which had to be kept up in this new situation - the furniture was treated with reverence (no feet on, no cup rings) soaps and towels which were meant purely for display were bought, and all the adults were completely dressed (hair and makeup, all tucked in ... and shoes and socks or stockings) at all times. (And if they came in with dirt on your shoes, they just cleaned their shoes.)

There are probably whole hosts of reasons why other people keep their shoes on at home, but that's what I've observed for my own family.
posted by frobozz at 2:44 PM on May 26 [3 favorites]

It's a question I've wanted to know for a long time. I can't supply an answer, only another data point.

I'm from Ohio, and always feel like taking my shoes off when I enter another person's house is somehow informal or rude (even though I'm no stickler for formality in other regards.) Sitting in somebody else's house with just socks definitely would seem weird to me, although I know plenty of people for whom this is the norm and will gladly comply in their houses.

I definitely put it down as a cultural thing. Cleanliness isn't really a thought either way. More like removing hats while indoors; just some subconscious cultural norm. If someone else can find a better answer though, I'm interested.
posted by kiltedtaco at 2:45 PM on May 26

Some people are ashamed of the way thier feet look and don't take thier shoes off around people.
posted by bigmusic at 2:48 PM on May 26

In Sweden wearing shoes in someone else's home is almost as rude as spitting on their floors. It has little to do with dirt. It's about showing respect for the person living there.

I've never worn shoes in a friends house or apartment unless given permission or helping them moving or something special like that. This rule is so strong so that during apartment showings prospective buyers take their shoes off outside of the apartment. I guess mainly to not clutter up the hall but probably also because as an uninvited guest entering someone else's home wearing socks is the proper thing to do.
posted by uandt at 2:49 PM on May 26 [1 favorite]

I have lived in Idaho, North Carolina, and California. None of my non-Asian friends have taken their shoes off when they walked in the front door of their homes.
posted by HotPatatta at 2:49 PM on May 26

I like the idea, but it wasn't the custom when I was growing up, so I never developed the habit.

I don't especially like being asked to take my shoes off in other people's houses, particularly when I'm wearing dress shoes -- I worry about running my hose, and I don't like having cold feet. I'm similarly reluctant to make my guests take their shoes off because I'm concerned they will be cold or uncomfortable.

This creates a certain circularity: dirt/wet in the entryway makes me even less likely to take my shoes off or ask others to do so.

Do people in no-shoes houses offer slippers or socks to their guests? Because that's what I think it would take to make a no-shoes house comfortable for me.
posted by ottereroticist at 2:50 PM on May 26

We wipe our shoes before entering our home so that any muck on them comes off.

Your profile says you live in Australia. I lived there for a year and the household norms are a little different than Canada:

- Australia doesn't have insulated or heated homes. Generally keeping cool is the problem so on the few times it gets cold the house is the same temperature as the outdoors, i.e. COLD. So keeping your shoes on seems pretty logical. Canadians have heating and insulation and even if your boots were pristine your feet would really get too hot walking around the house in the winter.

- Australians get rain sure but winter is something else altogether. Snow isn't just snow - it's snow and mud and sand and salt from the roads. If you see an uncleaned bootmat at the end of the winter it's coated in a thick crust of dirty salt. No way would you want that in your house.

- Many Australian homes (not all) have tile floors as these are easy to keep clean if you're wearing your shoes around but they're cold and hard to stand on in stocking feet. So it's more appealing to wear shoes.

- Canadian houses usually have a dedicated spot to put shoes by the front door. If you're not used to taking your shoes off, you don't have anywhere to put them by the door, ergo it seems awkward to take them off by the door. By the same token, no one in Canada keeps their day to day shoes in their closet so it would seem odd to wear them into the bedroom as you'd have nowhere to put them. This is sort of a self-fulfilling situation.

- In Canada and much of the northern parts of the US people wear boots in the winter which aren't exactly as comfortable as a pair of casual shoes for hanging around the house. And people tend to keep the same shoe-doffing habits year-round.
posted by GuyZero at 2:52 PM on May 26

What you've got here is two self-perpetuating cycles.

If you take your shoes off before coming indoors, the floor indoors will be clean enough to walk barefoot on, which is important, because you won't be wearing any shoes.

If you wear shoes indoors, the floor indoors will be a bit dirty, but it won't matter as much, because, hey, you've got shoes on!
posted by nebulawindphone at 2:54 PM on May 26

There may be a safety concern. When I was growing up, we had pet parrots. They were very aggressive in defending their territory (the entire house, as they saw it). Walking around without shoes in my house meant either fending off the birds or getting your toes constantly nipped at. My father also had a wood shop in the basement, and you don't want to drop any of that stuff on bare feet. It took me many years to get comfortable with the idea of running around unshod after moving out.
posted by yomimono at 2:54 PM on May 26

My boyfriend and I actually had an argument about this topic. I think it probably depends on however you were raised -- we're both Canadians and neither of us could come to an agreement.

He thinks it's rude if someone doesn't take their shoes off when they come to your house.

I think it's rude to even expect it -- they're you're guest, they're in your house.

Assuming you're not covered in mud (let's face it, how often do we need to worry about lots of dirt falling off in these situations) I think it's awkward to take off your shoes in the company of people you don't know really really well. Maybe it's just a weird hangup, but I feel a lot more put together, professional, and just less naked if I keep my shoes on.

I dunno, I'm all about keeping the shoes on unless you're winding down and relaxing with some good friends.
posted by Flying Squirrel at 2:55 PM on May 26

I don't especially like being asked to take my shoes off in other people's houses, particularly when I'm wearing dress shoes -- I worry about running my hose, and I don't like having cold feet. I'm similarly reluctant to make my guests take their shoes off because I'm concerned they will be cold or uncomfortable.

Again, this is sort of a self-fulfilling situation. If you were expecting to take your shoes off at a friend's house you'd wear socks or bring something along to change into.

It's like watching tv with your winter jacket on or something. I can't even imagine lying on a bed with shoes on.

Exactly.
posted by GuyZero at 2:58 PM on May 26

Growing up in Scotland, it was shoes on in the house unless you were really clattering about. Moved to Ontario six years ago, and now I can't even think of wearing shoes in the house. And the very strange part is, I can't think of what made me change.

I prefer to be barefoot in the house, and I have alarming-looking feet: large, flat (so flat that I make squck, squck noises walking across a smooth floor) and with webbed toes. I certainly don't care what other people think.
posted by scruss at 3:01 PM on May 26

If you were expecting to take your shoes off at a friend's house you'd wear socks or bring something along to change into.

Is this true? Do people in shoeless-home cultures really carry slippers around with them all the time?
posted by ottereroticist at 3:01 PM on May 26

My normal behavior: When I enter my own apartment, I wear shoes into my room, then take them, as well as any socks I might've been wearing, off there. I don't put the shoes/socks on again until I have to go outside. In the morning, I don't put my shoes on until I'm ready to leave the apartment—it's one of the last things I do, in part because I don't want to get hairspray on my shoes while doing my hair.

If I go over to someone else's apartment or house, I don't take my shoes off unless I go there regularly or, if I don't go there regularly, unless I'm invited to do so.

What I don't do is take my shoes off right at the door, unless I'm visiting the apartment of one of my "otaku"/anime geek/"oh so culturally aware" friends, in which case they tend to have self-conscious rules about carefully lining up one's shoes right next to the door, Asian-style. I feel like this is very much an affectation and/or conscious choice on these friends' part, though, not a custom they necessarily grew up with.
posted by limeonaire at 3:05 PM on May 26

Do people in shoeless-home cultures really carry slippers around with them all the time?

No, but we do tend to wear socks. At least in Canada. Or we just wear barefeet around. I have never been particularly upset about having to be barefoot in a friend's house. And for whatever reason I don't know a lot of women who wear pantyhose on a regular basis over to my house.

Again, the exception to all this is a party which is the only situation I can think of where a visiting adult woman has worn pantyhose in my house. In which case, shoes often stay on. Little girls wearing stockings tend to not care if they gets runs or at least they do not indicate that it's a big concern.
posted by GuyZero at 3:08 PM on May 26

Wow, this thread is getting answers fast. There still seems to be some confusion about what I was asking: why do people keep their shoes on in their own houses? I'm not asking why people take them off, as I do that myself.

So far I've seen a few answers citing foot pain and hardwood floors, which I never thought about before (we only have carpet in the Southwest). There have been a few answers mentioning that they were raised with a shoes-only rule, or that being barefoot in front of strangers is embarrassing, which I found interesting. And there is one answer suggesting observer bias, but also that wearing shoes is part of being presentable, even indoors. I found Frobozz's answer about rules in his Southern family really interesting, too.

The cowboy boots is an interesting idea, although I think many of the people who live around here aren't actually descendants of cowboys - I would guess that most actually moved from some other part of the US.

I'm also surprised by the number of Americans who suggest that it's actually normal not to wear shoes indoors, although I'm wondering if it varies between gender, given that women often wear more uncomfortable shoes.
posted by pravit at 3:11 PM on May 26

I live in the Northwest, and I rarely take off my shoes when I go inside my own house.

For one thing, being barefoot (unless it's in the hottest, driest part of summer when I might go barefoot all day) sort of signifies super-casual, ready-for-bed time. It makes me feel a little lazy, like I've called it a day even though it's only 5:00 PM.

If I want to go back out to grocery shop, or workout, or play outside with my son - each time I'll have to put my shoes back on anyway. If I removed my shoes each time I came inside, I'd be taking them on and off a dozen times per day.

We have an outdoor mat and one just inside the door, so we just wipe our feet as well as possible. And we have hard surfaces throughout, so we sweep every other day and mop once a week. It's no big deal.
posted by peep at 3:13 PM on May 26

Just, yet another, data point: I grew up in the Northwest and amongst my parents and all the families I knew, except for some Japanese and Chinese shoes were worn in the house. Now that I'm an adult I find that amongst my friends, all in our 30's, we mostly don't wear shoes in the house and when I go to visit someone's house I assume I should take mine off unless they tell me otherwise. We are all kind of granola-ish (a smidge) if that matters, I think it might.

I can't really imagine wearing shoes in the house. Like others have mentioned it is so pleasant to me to take my shoes off when getting home....and slipping on slippers in the winter.
posted by fieldtrip at 3:13 PM on May 26

In college (Northern California) most people I knew took their shoes off and it was kind of an unspoken rule that guests would too, unless it was really cold or rainy outside. It was basically so we would get our security deposit back on our apartments, the less tracked onto the carpet, the more likely they wouldn't charge us for carpet cleaning. I guess if you have a dark colored carpet, you wouldn't care that much. Although, it was also just comfy.
posted by wuzandfuzz at 3:15 PM on May 26

The closer you live to the floor (sitting, eating, sleeping), the more likely you will eschew your shoe.
posted by artdrectr at 3:16 PM on May 26

I grew up in New England and you wear shoes indoors because it's freezing six months of the year and your floor is extra freezing. That said I have indoor shoes usually and outdoor shoes and many New England houses have a "mud room" where you can take off muddy boots so you don't track mud into the house, change shoes etc.

I always figure, however, that I couldn't ask anyone to take off shoes in my house unless I am willing to give them something to wear around the house on their feet because otherwise they'll be cold (and no, there is really no way to not make the floor be cold in my universe, in Vermont in wintertime). There is a local library that is spic and span inside and they have an entire bench full of slippers of a million different sizes that they offer for people to change into so they don't track mud into the library. It's neat. On the other hand there's a good chance your muddy boots are lace-ups and a pain in the ass to get on and off and it seems like a lot of effort if you're just going to walk ten feet to return a library book.

And yes, when I was in Seattle there were often people who had NO SHOES PLEASE policies who I did see as a little high maintenance. Because I didn't necessarily dress to be walking around in my socks/stockings/bare feet, I'd feel awkward if people insisted I take my shoes off. If I had a friend and I knew it was their custom I'd just plan for it. But, I think nebulawindphone has it really. If you're used to indoor-shoes-wearing you're probably also used to dirtier floors and would be more hesistant to take your own shoes off someplace else.
posted by jessamyn at 3:17 PM on May 26

why do people not take off their shoes when entering their own house

Seeing as we spend more of our time walking on paved streets and sidewalks and inside carpeted buildings, it's not like the shoes get dirty, especially if there's a door mat to wipe them off on before you come in.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:17 PM on May 26

Growing up in the bay area, our neighborhood was an outdoors kind of place. We all hung out in front in someone or other's yard, and only made short trips inside to make meals or make a phone call or something like that. In that case, and since we all had real shoes with laces, the on/off/on/off all day would have been a PITA, so almost every house was a shoes on house.

Same situation in Hawaii, but since everyone wore slip-on sandals and the on/off was easy, shoes off was normal.

I also imagine that people who spend most of their time indoors with only occasional going outside, would be shoes-off inside people.
posted by ctmf at 3:18 PM on May 26

I wear my shoes in the house primarily because I store my shoes in my bedroom closet, so it's convenient to wear them until I get around to going into my bedroom to take them off. Otherwise, I'd end up with an untidy pile of shoes near the door instead of neatly put-away shoes that are actually where they belong. It's easier to remember to put them away if I don't take them off until I'm ready to put them away. It's for the same reason that when you bring home groceries, you unpack them in the kitchen rather than in the bathroom; you deal with items in the place you plan to put them away, or else they end up never getting put away.

My shoes have just never seemed especially dirty to me. I sit on public benches and the seats of the subway, and I hold the handrails of public escalators and stairwells. I'm sure that when I come home at night, my entire body is covered in germs and dirt from the outside world. In fact, I'm virtually positive that after riding the subway home from work, my hands are germier than my shoes. If I were paranoid about such things, I would never sit on my bed or couch without changing out of my street clothes and washing any part of my skin that has been exposed to the outside air.

I wipe my feet on a doormat to get off any loose dust and dirt, and I take off my shoes at the door if they have mud on them or are wet, but otherwise, I can't imagine what harm I'm doing by getting a little dust on my floor. I clean the floor every couple of weeks, and it's not as though I'm going to eat off of it (or off of my couch, which my germy outside jeans touch when I sit on it), so what does it matter if I wear shoes inside? I wear comfortable shoes, and they don't hurt my feet. I take my shoes off in my bedroom, usually when I change from my street clothes into my pajamas (which I tend to do as soon as I'm in for the evening if I don't have guests over). Until then, there's no reason in my mind not to wear shoes.
posted by decathecting at 3:21 PM on May 26 [4 favorites]

I have lived in the US all my life. Raised in Detroit, Michigan, lived in North Carolina, and Montana, and have visited many states. In any of those places, removing shoes has never been the norm. However, it's not unusual to remove your shoes when visiting during messy weather, or visiting a home with light carpeting or pristine wood floors. Being asked to remove your shoes is seen as being overly prissy and not very welcoming. Offering to remove your shoes, or just doing so without comment, is polite, but is not expected.

When visiting Canada, shoe removal seemed to be expected.

Personally, I remove my shoes in my own home, just for comfort. I never, ever expect anyone to remove their shoes. In fact, when people have removed their shoes in my house, I wonder if I come across as being picky. When visiting someone else, if I see a pile of shoes inside the front door, or see the hosts are shoeless, I generally remove mine as well.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 3:21 PM on May 26

Just, yet another, data point: I grew up in the Northwest and amongst my parents and all the families I knew, except for some Japanese and Chinese shoes were worn in the house. Now that I'm an adult I find that amongst my friends, all in our 30's, we mostly don't wear shoes in the house and when I go to visit someone's house I assume I should take mine off unless they tell me otherwise.

Fieldtrip, if you're still here, could you mention what caused the change? Was there any rule about wearing shoes in the house, or was it just the norm back then?
posted by pravit at 3:21 PM on May 26

Is this true? Do people in shoeless-home cultures really carry slippers around with them all the time?

in Japan, being provided house slippers is common. (These are never worn on tatami to reduce wear and tear). Also, Japanese homes generally have toilet slippers outside the door to wear in the toilet area.

When the movers came to move me out of my Tokyo pad, I was quite impressed with their shoe-change ability while carrying out the furniture.

I was raised in California and was exposed to Asian friends' no-shoe policies in their homes but it didn't stick until about two days of being FOB in Japan. Then, the no-shoes rule made complete and total sense.

One issue for eg. my sister is that she has a lot of shoes, so they're in the bedroom, so she has to wear her shoes in and out of the bedroom. Me, I just throw my shoes by the door, but this is not possible for all families.
posted by tachikaze at 3:24 PM on May 26

But I'm wondering if there is also a cultural reason - do Americans/Brits see wearing shoes as a necessary part of being presentable, like wearing shirts and pants

I think much more so - there are theories of the foot being considered phallic, and some people just think feet are kind of gross (just as it is also fetishized by others, but that is something of a "two sides of a coin" thing). In "higher" society, shoes are often very expensive and very much a part of an outfit, so taking them off is a serious alteration.

As for taking them off when one gets home, I think a lot of westerners do in a casual way, rather than as they cross the threshold, although some will change into "house shoes" or slippers of some kind (see Mr Rogers, e.g.). I grew up in a house that accepted a lot of barefootedness, and attend a martial arts school where it's the norm, and if I ever have an organized home I'd like to have a no shoes policy. But as it is, I don't vacuum enough and there's no foyer area where I live to make it easy to make shoes the first thing, so that seems complicated.

Instead they generally come off when I'm sitting down at my desk or in front of the TV. I think this is pretty common. But it's different from an established rule, and so seems informal, more like a "first step towards bedtime" than simply indoor behavior that would apply if I had friends over for dinner or something.
posted by mdn at 3:24 PM on May 26

Hm, never thought about this before. I live in northern Michigan, and since we have snow for a good part of the year, it's pretty customary to take shoes/boots off when entering a house, whether yours or someone else's; at least in the winter. I'm pretty much in sandals or barefoot the rest of the year. I usually think nothing of slipping my sandals off, no matter where I am.
posted by All.star at 3:28 PM on May 26

I've lived all of my life in and around Portland, Oregon. In 39 years, I've never observed a consistent rule for shoes on or shoes off. There are certainly households in which shoes off is mandatory, even for guests, and there are many more households in which shoes are on all the time. (I grew up in a "shoes on" house.) But among many of my friends — and in my own home — the general rule seems to be "shoes off" except while at home, but not for guests who aren't comfortable with that, not for formal gatherings (my wife and I will put on and wear nice shoes when we host a dinner party), and not for large social occasions (like a huge Christmas party).

Really, though, the rules seem to vary from house-to-house around here, though most homes are "shoes on"...
posted by jdroth at 3:28 PM on May 26

I'm in Kansas (USA). In my experience, taking off shoes inside is situational. If I'm going to be home all day, I don't bother putting shoes on when I wake up, but I usually leave my slippers on (unless it's hot weather, then I go barefoot). If I'm going to be back and forth at home and outside, I put shoes on and leave them on for the rest of the day. We have heavy-duty welcome mats outside our doors to wipe our shoes on before entering, so dirt/mud isn't a real problem.

When I was growing up (also in Kansas), the only people who made a point of regularly taking their shoes off at home were people with new carpet or people who were obsessed with cleanliness to the point of weirdness.
posted by amyms at 3:31 PM on May 26 [1 favorite]

I got it from my mom, who got it from her mom who was born in Germany but is quite OCD and loves clean. (I also got the OCD.)
posted by Brian Puccio at 3:31 PM on May 26 [1 favorite]

I understand about the difficulties with some kinds of boots, but for shoes that are easy to get off, is it really that common to wear the shoes inside on the carpets, instead of having "house shoes" or slippers to change into? My husband's feet get cold easily, so he'll wear warm slippers and socks in the house--but never his outdoor shoes (sneakers, sandals, or combat boots).
posted by Cricket at 3:33 PM on May 26

I almost always leave my shoes on in the house. (When we move into our new house, though, my husband and I have decided to not wear shoes inside -- to keep it cleaner.) I think it's just habit. Another reason: I'm short and I wear shoes with about 2" heels, so when I take them off, my pants kind of drag on the floor, and I don't like that. And my shoes are pretty comfortable anyway.
posted by trillian at 3:38 PM on May 26

I grew up with shoes off in the house. To me, the people who insist on keeping their shoes on are the weird ones--one of my friends got freaked out about having shoes off in the house because he insisted feet were "dirty". Dirtier than the shoes, apparently? There is this anti-barefoot, anti-shoeless thing in America that I cannot comprehend, where exposed/unshod feet are the equivalent of sitting on a couch naked with an unwiped ass.
posted by schroedinger at 3:38 PM on May 26

I grew up in New England and you wear shoes indoors because it's freezing six months of the year and your floor is extra freezing.

8 months of the year in Ontario (and most of Canada) you're wearing shoes that are wet or covered in snow. No one in their right mind would wear wet shoes around the house.

Amazing what a difference a border can make! As far as I can tell, weather and housing in the northeastern US and Ontario are mostly the same, so perhaps there's some other reason?

A lot of people mentioned that they do take their shoes off after coming home, just not immediately - I still consider this "shoes off" behavior; I'm really asking about families where the norm is to not take shoes off at all until going to bed.

Some people mentioned that taking their shoes off is the first step towards going to bed or unwinding, so perhaps keeping shoes on has a psychological effect (need to keep working, day isn't over yet).

I guess the majority of the answers suggest that wearing shoes is something you just don't really think about, or that wearing shoes isn't any less comfortable than not wearing them (which was the main thing I was confused about). And some pointed out that not wearing shoes is actually less comfortable, either because of cold or foot pain. I guess people who grow up in a shoes-off house find going barefoot more comfortable than wearing shoes, and people who grow up in a shoes-on house don't feel any difference (or find barefoot less comfortable). But to me it still seems like a chicken-and-egg thing; how did "shoes on" households come about in the first place?
posted by pravit at 3:43 PM on May 26

This is an excellent question. I'm surprised at some of the answers; I had thought that shoes-off-in-the-house was a rule in Japan and other oriental places, and had not realized that for example in Sweden it was a given, as well (per uandt). I think this calls for a global cultural study.

My own data point: in rural, agrarian Holland, one wore wooden shoes outside the house. My grandfather, who retired from the farm in 1959, never, ever, wore anything else outside the house. Naturally, you didn't wear them in the house; you left them by the kitchen door. He wore thin leather slippers inside the wooden shoes, over thick hand-knit woolen socks, so in the house he went around either in the socks or in the slippers. I observed the same thing at the farms of my uncles, into the 1960s.

I suspect that the no-shoes-in-the-house thing comes from the fact that until early in the 20th century, worldwide including in the West, 95 percent of the population were engaged in farming, and you didn't want to track the barnyard into the house. And if you weren't farming, you were fishing, or cutting lumber, or something similarly messy, and one way or the other, outside was just stinky muck. And so, in some cultures, including, according to answers here, in pockets of the US, Canada, and other places, no-shoes-in-the-house evolved from a practical thing into a matter of etiquette.

Meanwhile, in the world's cities, where the other 5 percent lived, shoes were standard, indoors and out. Pepys, writing in the 1600s, never mentions taking his shoes off when entering a house. Nor is there a Shakespearian allusion to the practice. So, in non-agrarian areas, one left one's shoes on. (At least, in Western cultures. In Japan and other Eastern cultures, perhaps because there were sacred aspects to agriculture, and where shoes-off was the rule in every temple, shoes-off apparently won the day.)

As the population shifted from country to city, city customs were adopted, and shoes-off ruled. That's my theory, anyway.

Additional data points:

In Japan, if you commit suicide by jumping in front of a train, take your shoes off first.

[Via the above link:] A whole blog about taking your shoes off at the door.
posted by beagle at 3:46 PM on May 26 [6 favorites]

In Sweden wearing shoes in someone else's home is almost as rude as spitting on their floors. It has little to do with dirt. It's about showing respect for the person living there.

I've never worn shoes in a friends house or apartment unless given permission or helping them moving or something special like that. This rule is so strong so that during apartment showings prospective buyers take their shoes off outside of the apartment.

Same in Norway. Real estate agents often provide plastic shoe covers for apartment showings.

Guests wear shoes at formal parties, but at least during the winter months party guests quite often bring their (presumably clean) "indoor shoes" with them.
posted by iviken at 3:47 PM on May 26 [1 favorite]

Another Australian here, of anglo descent.

We (my daughter & I) take our shoes off indoors at home, and generally expect guests to do the same. When visiting others, we follow their lead. As a child in the 70's the only people I remember who removed their shoes were those of Asian or Mediterranean European descent. I remember thinking what a good idea, as I much preferred being barefoot. People I know who have polished floorboards tend to prefer EVERYONE to remove their shoes so as not to damage the floor.
Australia certainly does have insulation and heating, BTW, depending on the region. We are renting and have both carpet & linoleum flooring. In the winter, such as now, I have a few pairs of extra thick fluffy socks for wearing around the house.
My personal reasons: hygeine, especially with children - who knows what they have on their shoes, hopefully reducing wear & tear on carpet/polished floorboards, comfort - I fell more relaxed and comfortable sans shoes.
posted by goshling at 3:48 PM on May 26

"shoes-on ruled" is what I meant to say, dangit.
posted by beagle at 3:48 PM on May 26

I've lived in British Columbia, Northwest Territories, and Alberta, Canada. In all three places, shoes off in the house was the rule, and there were very very few exceptions. I grew up thinking that leaving your shoes on in the house is dirty and rude. Dirty because you track mud and dirt everywhere, and rude because keeping your shoes on implies that you are ready to just walk out anytime. Also, it means that you don't care that you are dirtying your host's floor.

I always take my shoes off, with the possible exception of if I'm just walking through the house to go out the back door, or if I'm heading into an unfinished basement. I never have to ask guests to take their shoes off, because it is a pretty standard norm in all the places I've lived.
posted by arcticwoman at 3:48 PM on May 26

My shoes come off as soon as I get home - and most times, while I'm sitting at my desk at work. I don't feel very.... grounded.... with my shoes on. if that makes any sense. I mean, it's partly a "I'm a klutzy bitch" notion as well as a whole "whatever" thing.

Point is, the shoes come off as often as possible. And I let my guests know they can do the same in my house.
posted by damnjezebel at 3:49 PM on May 26

I actually had this conversation with my boyfriend the other day. I'm of East Asian descent but raised in Australia, and I've always taken my shoes off immediately when I get home. If they're shoes that I keep in my room (like high heels) I'll take them off once I'm in the door and carry them to my room. I do the same at any relatives and friends houses that I'm comfortable with. I would never do this at a person's house that I didn't know very well unless I saw them doing the same thing. My house has carpeted, tiled and wooden floors and I can't even stand wearing socks inside. People that come over to my house (Asian and no-Asian alike) tend to take off their shoes immediately as well, and usually insist even (this is probably because everyone else in the house is barefoot).

However, when we go back to the mother country, it's the opposite. The houses are carpet-less but the doors are always open during the day which lets a lot of dust in. We always have to wear slippers inside as our feet would become black in no time. It was a bit of adjustment for me, but it made a lot of sense.

My boyfriend's family is completely different, they only take their shoes off once they're in their rooms, even though their entire house is carpeted. To them it seems somewhat of a personal thing, and not to be done in company.
posted by liquorice at 3:55 PM on May 26

Why I keep my shoes on in the house (which I don't, normally--just in these situations):

1. I will keep them on if I am just running in for a minute and it would be too much trouble to take my shoes off, especially if I am wearing lace-up shoes. My bad back is a demotivator for taking lace-up shoes on and off.

2. When I am going to do a lot of cleaning, I will put my sneakers on first, because they give me energy. Seriously, I can get four times as much done in sneakers as I can in bare feet.

3. In the morning, I generally put my shoes on in front of the mirror in my bedroom so I can choose which ones look best. Then I wear them from the bedroom to the door.
posted by HotToddy at 3:57 PM on May 26

Would you take your shoes off on the way into the office?
posted by YoungAmerican at 4:03 PM on May 26 [1 favorite]

It seems so obvious that something that has come into direct contact with feces, mucus, vomit, and entrails ought not to be touching the surfaces of one's home.
posted by fish tick at 4:05 PM on May 26

Would you take your shoes off on the way into the office?
No, but then I wouldn't worry about my bare feet contacting what you've been walking in there.
posted by fish tick at 4:09 PM on May 26

Central California - and I wear my shoes into the house because there's generally no good reason to take them off. It rarely rains and I don't tend to walk in dirt. If my shoes looked dirty, sure I'd take them off, but as a general rule, why bother? In the wintertime it's frequently rather chilly and I hate cold feet, so that keeps them on even more.

If I'm going to stay home for a long time, I may take them off if I'm near the bedroom. If I feel like checking the mail (about 50 yards down the street) and my shoes are off, I won't bother to put them on.

I can see taking off dirty and/or wet shoes, but a rule that ignores circumstances seems totally unnecessary. (Dirt = dog poo? Say what?)

To me, the people who insist on keeping their shoes on are the weird ones--one of my friends got freaked out about having shoes off in the house because he insisted feet were "dirty".

I've heard of people who insist on shoes coming off, but never this. Your friend is probably... actually weird.

In conclusion: I often keep them on because A) I don't have an arbitrary rule, and B) because the circumstances allow it.
posted by yath at 4:11 PM on May 26

Seattle. White carpet. Shoes off. But I don't insist that people who come over take their shoes off; often they will notice all the shoes in the shoe-bench thingie inside the doorway and take off their own shoes, but I don't mention it, because it would feel rude to do so. Besides, what if their only clean socks that day happened to be the ones with the hole in the toe? I don't want them to be unprepared and embarrassed by something like that.
posted by TochterAusElysium at 4:13 PM on May 26 [1 favorite]

I'm a shoe-wearer. I generally do it until my fiance (who changes into slippers when he gets home, which seems very Mr. Rogers to me) basically says I need to take them off. When I lived alone, I frequently wore them until bedtime. The reasons why...

- I did not grow up in a strict no-shoes inside household. So it often doesn't occur to me to remove them.

- I have hardwood floors, and just don't feel like they pick up dirt like carpet does. I feel like if I had carpet I'd probably be more conscientious about taking off my shoes. Probably. It actually would matter quite a bit what color the carpet was.

- I don't find them uncomfortable whatsoever; I might go so far as to say I find them maybe even a little more comfortable than barefootedness and probably slightly warmer. I really don't care for just wearing socks around the house (I would not, for instance, ever ever wear socks to bed). I really hate slippers for whatever reason.

- Mostly, as in the first reason - it just doesn't occur to me. I don't choose to wear my shoes in the house as much as I never think to take them off.

- Obviously I'd remove them if I felt I had some sort of standing dirt on the shoes that would get in my floor. But considering most trips are front stoop > sidewalk > car > sidewalk > store/work/other non-muddy environment > sidewalk > front stoop > inside ... I just don't have much opportunity to get my shoes particularly dirty.

I'm very careful about wearing my shoes into another's home. When I go to someone else's house, I immediately look to see if they're wearing shoes. If they're not, mine come off immediately. It's amazing how frequently the host almost apologetically tells me I don't haaave to take them off, as though I'll judge them poorly for making me do it.
posted by FortyT-wo at 4:20 PM on May 26 [1 favorite]

Besides the comfort angle, perhaps we just have different definitions of our "outdoor clothes." Everybody considers heavy winter coats, hats, and sunglasses to be outdoor clothes, for example (although recently it seems the latter two items have become acceptable indoor clothes). In many countries, shoes are also considered outdoor clothes, but judging from the responses in this thread, Brits, Aussies, and Americans just consider them a part of their outfit (shirts, pants, socks) that you wouldn't take off except in private - something you just aren't conscious of wearing because you always wear them.

One would then guess that shoes-indoors or shoes-as-outfit is a particular feature of Anglo culture that was brought along to the colonies. Perhaps the upper classes wore shoes indoors to differentiate themselves from the lower classes who had dirty shoes from working in the fields, and the indoor-shoe-wearing practice gradually spread to everyone who wanted to appear upper class. Frobozz's answer seems to suggest that wearing shoes, at least for very traditional American families, is just part of looking respectable or middle-class, and that later generations would have adopted this behavior as default (without really thinking of appearance or class).

The problem with this theory is that Canadians seem to have a shoes-off rule, and they should, in theory, be bearers of the same Anglo culture that was spread to America, Australia, and New Zealand. It couldn't be the weather, because of the opposite responses that Canadians and northeastern Americans have provided (e.g. don't wear shoes because of all the mud and snow, or wear shoes because it's so cold).

Could it be that anglophone Canadians adopted the shoes-off practice from the original French settlers of Canada? Is there any "shoes-off" culture in France?

Or maybe I'm just over-thinking a plate of beans. Any shoe history professors in the house?
posted by pravit at 4:32 PM on May 26 [1 favorite]

nkknkk: "When I was a kid in New England, we weren't supposed to go barefoot or sock-footed in the house. Shoes were preferred, slippers were acceptable (if only family was around). My family was very energy-conscious so the house was always chilly, and my mom hated the idea that we would wear through our socks. It was a practical thing. / Nowadays I'm barefoot if I can possibly be so."

It's so weird when someone posts exactly what you were about to say and every detail is the same, including the cold New England house.

My grandparents and father used to scold us for having bare feet. Now I insist on no shoes in the house, although I don't make a big deal of it for guests.
posted by theredpen at 4:35 PM on May 26

I'm in New Zealand, and most people I know take their shoes off on their way into the house. We hope our guests will, but would never ask them to. It's a slight contradiction that we are infamous for going barefoot outside, and probably tramp barefoot germs into the house but nobody fusses about that.

One part of the *rolls eyes* Flylady system is to ensure you are "dressed to (laceup) shoes" each morning. She says it's to do with being ready to work and face the day. If you've got shoes on, you can't just flop down on the bed etc, and you have no excuses to not go out, take out the washing or something. (being a kiwi, I'll run out to the mailbox in bare feet quite happily, and have some fake Crocs things by the back door to go out to the washing line, and ignore her advice by saying it's a cultural thing!)
posted by slightlybewildered at 4:37 PM on May 26

Could it be that anglophone Canadians adopted the shoes-off practice from the original French settlers of Canada?

Very, very few cultural traditions have moved between the French and English in Canada. I have no reason to believe that this is the case. My father's family is about as Anglo/Scottish/Irish as it gets and they generally took their shoes off inside. Of course, they were dairy farmers and worked ankle-deep in cow shit seven days a week. They actually had a whole room dedicated to holding and changing into/out of work clothes. It could be an urban/rural thing - urban dwellers don't get that dirty and their shoes tend to coordinate with their clothes. Rural dwellers are dirty and would tend to remove their shoes as well as work shirts, overalls, etc.
posted by GuyZero at 4:59 PM on May 26

I keep my shoes on to protect my feet. There can be all sorts of dangerous things down there on the floor. Partly this is because I'm a bad housekeeper (once you fall for the "cleaning" scam there's no end to it), and partly because where I live (SW US) there are lots of dangerous arthropods. Even very good housekeepers, professionals, can't really keep the scorpions and such from sometimes getting in.
posted by spasm at 5:01 PM on May 26 [1 favorite]

I think it's a generational thing among USians. My mother, now 80, is utterly horrified at the thought of bare feet, ever. She was raised (rather strictly) in Pennsylvania and Iowa, has lived all over as an adult and to this day, when she gets up in the morning she gets FULLY dressed, including shoes, and she stays that way until she goes to bed (although she might change her whole outfit depending on the circumstances: there are gardening outfits and lunch outfits and cocktail outfits and, according to her, in the thirties and forties her whole family dressed formally for dinner every single night.) She called me once a few years back, bemused because she had gone to visit a younger friend with teenage kids. The teenager opened the door - in bare feet! Oh, the horror! The whole family wasn't wearing shoes! Was this normal? What had happened to the world? She knew that I went barefoot regularly and probably my children did too, but she'd always chalked that up to our stubborn, impossible, just plain wrong bohemian ways and it really shook her to be confronted by bare feet in what she thought was a "nice" house.
posted by mygothlaundry at 5:13 PM on May 26 [1 favorite]

pravit: When I was a kid we obviously did what we were told and our parents set up the culture for our households. Now that I am older and my friends and I have our own homes or rent apartments or whatever we have assimilated cultural norms that we like or make sense to us. So, shoes are off in my house and most of my friends. But, I think that this is more common in hippy-y, granola-y, enviro-y sort of households. Maybe we are just more casual.
posted by fieldtrip at 5:21 PM on May 26

I didn't grow up taking off my shoes inside the house, and almost no-one I grew up with did, either. (suburbs of Baltimore, MD) unless the shoes are soaked/muddy/snowy. I was raised to consider wearing shoes to be part of 'being dressed.'

Currently, it's impractical for us to walk around barefoot/socks because we're renovating our house and not all of our floors are finished. Also, my feet get really cold. On weekends I'll pad about in slippers until I leave the house, but generally leave my outdoor shoes on once they're on. In the summer I'm likely to be barefoot given the opportunity, but I wouldn't necessarily think to take my shoes on and off at the door.

This is a very self-selecting group of responses we've got here -- the Canadian homes that I've been to are mixed between shoes-inside and no-shoes-inside. The French households I've known were shoes-wearers. In the US, the people I know who prefer that no-one wear shoes inside are upper-middle-class folks with post-graduate degrees. The working-class families I've known (inc. my relatives) would take off work boots at the door, but wouldn't otherwise take off shoes at the door.
posted by desuetude at 5:23 PM on May 26

I think the thing is, you might as well ask why people don't put on a new pair of socks when they enter the house. Takes almost no time, avoids nasty dirty socks walking everywhere, the new ones are more comfortable, why not?

Some people just don't. They don't think about it. They just don't. There's no really good reason to take them off because most people don't walk around in mud or lay around on their beds in the middle of the day. Unless it's a habit to take them off, they don't think about doing it because it's a non-issue.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 5:30 PM on May 26

I leave my shoes on in my house until I am ready to relax. I leave them on until I have finished all my "chores'. For example, if I have bills to pay I leave them on untuil they are paid. For me, it is psychological. Shoes on means things to do. Shoes off means relax. It is similar to when I worked from home. I got dressed everyday at the same time or it was the weekend. Otherwise it was psychologically difficult to distinguish between work and play. I have no preference if a visitor wants to take or their shoes or leave them on.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 5:48 PM on May 26

utsutsu writes "This rule goes even for large house parties. It's not strange to see a front entrance completely taken over by shoes when 20 + guests are over. Some of those shoes might migrate over to the door to a smoking patio, or backyard as the shoe owner requires."

I think everyone I know has a Xmas/Hallowe'en/whatever party story where a pair of guests unwittingly swap shoes on the way out. It's easy to do when there are 40 pairs of shoes in your mud room.
posted by Mitheral at 6:00 PM on May 26

Another descendant of Puritans chiming in, and we always wore our shoes in the house. There was one other reason, however. My parents were not that far removed from living in homes with dirt floors. You would not have taken off your shoes in a house with dirt floors. Also, in pioneer times, you needed to have shoes on your feet to visit the outhouse (which my grandparents had on the farm even when I was a child), and to make your escape in case of fire or attack.

I'm pretty far removed from dirt floors, Indian attacks and outhouses. I take my shoes off in the house. But I ALWAYS wear slippers.
posted by clarkstonian at 6:04 PM on May 26 [2 favorites]

A few afterthoughts:

Sydney has a generally dry climate - no snow, slush, mud etc to deal with. In rainy weather, you'd tend to take your shoes off upon entering your house. Otherwise, doormats are almost universally used to remove any loose dirt from your soles.

Wooden floorboards are all the rage now, especially amongst renovated older houses. People who fork out thousands on floorboards can get a bit anal about their investment not getting scratched.

Fair enough point that your shoes carry in trace elements of shit, vomit, dirt, insects, whatever, but who eats their dinner off the floor? In theory, about the only thing that ever touches the floor would be your feet, shoes or slippers. If there were babies or kids around the house, I might re-evaluate. On the other hand, anybody who allows cats or dogs into the house is probably being a bit precious & hypocritical.

I personally find feet kinda disgusting - usually quite ugly & often smelly. Also, I'm slightly germophobic about things like tinea & warts. Ever seen what happens to a sole if you step where somebody with foot warts has stepped? No thanks! I'll take the trace elements of dirt over that, anyday! On that note, I'd far prefer general outside dirt on my floors than peoples' awful, sweaty socks & whatever disgusting fungal infections etc they're carrying on their feet.

On balance, I think the house slipper approach is most likely best - where you swap your outside shoes for slippers upon entering.
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:24 PM on May 26

I am a filthy American pig who leaves his shoes on in the house.

1. I do it because I was not trained otherwise.

2. America is so clean, I don't need to take my shoes off.

:P

I mean, was that not a loaded question to begin with?
posted by metajc at 6:25 PM on May 26 [2 favorites]

I grew up in Southern CA with a lot of friends of Chinese/Taiwanese descent so it was totally normal to me to take off shoes going into the house, although we didn't have a strict rule about it in my house (also, we had slate floors in some parts of the house which were very cold in winter, and I found that once I took off my shoes I had a hard time warming up slippers). Once when I was small, my great-aunt came to visit from Pittsburgh and was absolutely scandalized that we little girls weren't wearing shoes in the house. This was my first encounter with the idea of mutually repugnant cultural norms. I remember being baffled - what would happen if Aunt Gen went to my friend Nancy's house? Would she keep her shoes on, in line with her manners? Or would she take them off, in line with Nancy's manners? What was the point of manners if they weren't even consistent?? (We had been talking about manners a lot at home in preparation for Aunt Gen's visit as she was more proper than anyone we knew, so this is probably why the inconsistency made such a huge impression.)

My fiance is Taiwanese and really does get grossed out by wearing shoes in the house, so we have a long line of shoes by our door. I like it because it means we almost never have to vacuum.
posted by crinklebat at 6:26 PM on May 26

I am a filthy American pig who leaves his shoes on in the house.
...
I mean, was that not a loaded question to begin with?

Hey, I'm American too. As I said in the original post, I did not intend this to be a loaded question, and I'm sorry if it came off like that. As someone who feels that not wearing shoes is naturally more comfortable than wearing shoes, I am genuinely curious why people choose to keep their shoes on all day until they go to bed. It is as foreign to me as taking off your shoes upon entry is foreign to you.
posted by pravit at 6:32 PM on May 26

Here's some information from one raised in the South. Generally, shoes are worn in our house, except a few random times while I was growing up (usually after we got a brand new carpet). Otherwise, I'd wear them so long as I didn't think I would be going outside or leaving for a few hours. As I grew up, as soon as weather permitted I ran around barefoot.

Wearing shoes (or at least even having socks on) was/is expected when guests come over. It's considered rude, at least for a teenager or adult, to have bare feet around a guest. Even now, I'm self conscious if someone comes over and I'm in my bare feet.

Another perspective is also to look at how homes were decorated/built. Most homes had wood floors and likely may have had a rug or two down on the floors. It was common practice, especially in spring, to take the rugs out and beat them clean, as well as to sweep the floors (even wash them). Its a culture that takes for granted that you will clean the floor, but of course, dirty shoes that might track something in are expected to be cleaned or left at the door. ;)

By the way, not all boots are a pain to get off. I have a pair of boots I can deftly slip on and off in seconds. I like to wear them when I fly specifically for that purpose.
posted by Atreides at 6:47 PM on May 26 [1 favorite]

When I was a kid, (NE U.S.) at home we did not take our shoes off when we came inside unless they were really dirty (boots in winter etc.). I don't know why. I also felt a little undressed (less so now) if I took my shoes off in front of strangers or acquaintances and that was definitely learned behavior. Like others have said -- something about how informal and somewhat disrespectful it seemed.

I am one of those people who doesn't feel physically comfortable walking in my bare feet -- it kind of hurts -- something about the way I am built, but I do generally take off my outside shoes and but on some crocs or flip flops when I come home and am going to be home for a while. It's a feeling thing -- kind of a Mister Rogers moment that differentiates between the "me in the world" me and the "at home" me.

Plus, I have hardwood floors and figure leaving my outside shoes by the door keeps the dirt off the floors -- and this is may be because I am not a big cleaner, so it seems like a little way to keep the dirt outside.
posted by nnk at 6:52 PM on May 26 [1 favorite]

Shoes off. Always. I'm in and out of the house all the time when I'm home, either popping out for a cigarette, or going out to garden, or letting the dog in and out. It's no effort at all to slip into a pair of casual shoes like little canvas flats or even my runners (loosely laced) to go out. Inside, shoes are shucked off just as easily and automatically. I wear socks, slippers, bare feet or else this cute pair of flat black ballerina flats that I bought purposely as "house shoes". It irks me to no end when people wear shoes in my house--as it's been said, those shoes have walked in spit, shit, urine, and all sorts of other lovely stuff.

I grew up in BC and the Northwest Territories of Canada. I don't know why people wear shoes in the house.
posted by Savannah at 7:00 PM on May 26

I'm also surprised by the number of Americans who suggest that it's actually normal not to wear shoes indoors

Sure, of course it's normal. It's not that it's abnormal not to wear shoes indoors--it's just that neither is it abnormal to wear shoes indoors. We just plain old don't have the kind of hard-and-fast cultural norm concerning wearing shoes in our own homes that is so prevalent in other parts of the world.

The only cultural norm that applies here is the one that says that in my own house, I do what I feel like. Of course you're probably going to take your shoes off at some point, but because there's no rule, it could be at any point between entering the house and going to sleep for the night, so it falls to its natural place in the evening's set of priorities. I get home, maybe my feet feel especially trapped so I take my shoes off right away. Or I get home, I really have to pee and I'm dying of thirst. So I walk in, use the bathroom, grab a drink, sit down and kick my shoes off then. Sometimes I'll walk around my house naked but wear my favorite pair of shoes just because I like them. It's my house; I do what I feel like.

(Also, like clarkstonian mentions, I grew up in Northern New England and I'm only one generation removed from growing up with dirt floors year round. Even I grew up in a more indoor/outdoor environment than some, I suppose. Outhouses and barns and such make a person comfortable with shoes indoors and bare feet outdoors and having to get outside quicker than it would take to put on shoes).
posted by lampoil at 7:02 PM on May 26 [1 favorite]

data point: Italy, countryside setting. Since we (me and her) moved in here, we decided for a loosely enforced no-shoes-inside the house policy, and we usually put slippers on when entering home. Visiting friends and guests are free to keep their shoes (or remove them, at will). Upstairs neighbors also have a no-shoes policy, politely asking to leave shoes at the door. I was born and raised in a shoes-inside-house-is-fine household. There's not a rule, actually, and if there was it wouldn't be strictly enforced anyway, which is somewhat coherent with being in Italy and all.
posted by _dario at 7:23 PM on May 26

Here in Hawaii people wear a lot of slippers ("flip flops" or "thongs" to you non-islanders), which makes it very easy to doff them at any door. In addition to the ones we use to walk around outside, my SO uses indoor slippers (we have wood floors) and we're sitting on our balcony right now wearing slippers specifically for the lanai, ones that don't go in the house or would be taken outdoors. Some houses I've been to have stashes of extra slippers at every doorway, just in case. If you enter someone's house from the front door your host might advise that you bring your slippers with you (carried, not worn) because you'll need them to step out into the back yard or whatever. A lot of us grew up with this mindset, and now that I think about it, when people here wear shoes they tend to be the kind that are easily removed/put back on, or they keep their shoelaces loose. When the guys who delivered my couch had to come inside, without even asking they stomped out of their loosely-laced work boots in the doorway before coming in. I do the same thing - when I know I'm going to someone's house, I'll make sure my laces are tied loose so that I don't have to bother with untying and re-tying them whenever I step in or out.

I guess I'm trying to illustrate how, when the "shoes off" rule is the accepted norm, people make adjustments in their behavior to ensure compliance. And so to answer your question more directly, I think it amounts to culture, convenience, and a little bit of climate. In Hawaii we have a cultural norm that says to take shoes off in the house, we've made social adjustments to make it as convenient as possible to comply, and we have a climate conducive to being barefoot.
posted by krippledkonscious at 7:25 PM on May 26 [1 favorite]

I'm Canadian and my aunt was talking about this after spending a year living in Australia. The short of it in bullet form:
-Canadians just don't walk around indoor with shoes on, mostly because of the snow, rain mud.
-Australians walk around indoors with shoes one (and their floors wear down like those in a bar as a result of this) because they never have to worry about tracking mud or snow inside. Dirt can be easily swept. Also, no risk of crap crawling into your boots.
posted by furtive at 7:28 PM on May 26

I grew up in CA with hardwood floors and our family kept our shoes on because, well, we weren't great at keeping floors clean. So I guess the shoes compounded the problem, but it was gross to walk around barefoot on gritty floors and then have to pick dirt out of your feet before climbing into bed. Much better to just leave the shoes on - then at least your feet would be clean, if not the floors.

Now that I have my own house (carpeted), we take our shoes off at the door and ask our guests to do the same.
posted by GardenGal at 7:35 PM on May 26

Southern California upbringing. Growing up, there wasn't a particularly hard-and-fast rule about it, but my feeling is the same as many people above, that you don't take your shoes off when other people are at your house, and you certainly don't do it at someone else's house unless invited to.
Shoeless is like being undressed in some way, and therefore a bit rude or weird, like if you took your pants off and sat around in your underwear. Definitely more comfortable, but not for company!
However, this rule is relaxed with close friends, and people just go with what feels best.

I leave my shoes on in the house if I'm going to be leaving again later, just for efficiency's sake, especially if they're lace-up shoes. I don't really worry about the dirt. I usually do take them off if I'm not going out again, because it is more comfortable that way. Sometimes I put them on if I'm going to be working in the kitchen for a while, because it's more comfortable for standing on a hard floor.

I lived in Japan for a few years, and was fine with the custom (except when wearing Doc Martens, sigh), but I have to admit that here I think my friends with shoes-off policies are a little overly fussy. I agree with Jessamyn that you don't always dress with that in mind, and especially at a party it can be a little weird to be in a nice dress with no shoes, or a hole in your sock, or something.
posted by exceptinsects at 7:46 PM on May 26 [1 favorite]

yeah, i was raised (in new england) to consider "shoes" part of "being dressed" most of the time.
posted by rmd1023 at 7:55 PM on May 26

it was gross to walk around barefoot on gritty floors and then have to pick dirt out of your feet before climbing into bed.

I suppose this is best saved for another AskMe, but the ages old clash of Eastern and Western culture comes to mind, perhaps even more ancient than that of wearing shoes in the house - that of taking night showers or morning showers. ;)

The only cultural norm that applies here is the one that says that in my own house, I do what I feel like.

Definitely. What I was curious about is why somebody would feel like wearing shoes longer than they had to. For me, it isn't an arbitrary decision, as I find wearing socks or slippers to be much, much more comfortable than wearing shoes.

But the dirt floors and outhouses, the traditional Puritan values, or even cold weather and hardwood floors have helped me to understand how someone could be raised to feel that shoes are preferable to (or at least no worse than) socks or slippers.

What's been really interesting for me are the anecdotes about an older-generation relative who considers it scandalous to not wear shoes in the house, or people who mention that they feel embarrassed or undressed if they're not wearing shoes in front of strangers. So at least among some groups of Americans, there used to be (and still is) a cultural thing about shoes being an integral part of your clothing, like pants or shirts, unlike winter coats or gloves. I was never aware of this, and I find such cultural tidbits fascinating.

BTW, my girlfriend tells me that growing up in a small town in northern Sweden, they had to take their shoes off at school, at least in primary school.
posted by pravit at 8:31 PM on May 26

Another New Englander agreeing that it's weird/possibly rude to take off your shoes in someone else's house. It would be like changing into your pajamas. I'll wear my shoes in the house when guests are around or when I'm being productive. Taking off my shoes is for when I'm relaxing.
posted by fermezporte at 8:32 PM on May 26

Midwestern US with Wisconsin/Swedish influence. I tend to wear clogs. This makes it easy to have indoor clogs (clean) and outdoor clogs (dirty). I wear the indoor clogs rather than going shoeless because I've broken two toes by stubbing them indoors.

I don't take my shoes off at other people's houses unless I know it's the rule. Otherwise, it seems too casual to pad about in my socks.
posted by PatoPata at 8:40 PM on May 26