How often are feet/socks cleaned?
Frequently / daily
Where are they getting outside dirt/pesticides/fecal material on the bottom?
Usually no where.
How often are the bottoms of outdoor shoes cleaned?
Almost never at all.
Where are they getting outside dirt/pesticides/fecal material on the bottom?
Almost every place they touch.
Since I redecorated the house and consistently had no outdoor shoes inside, cleaning has been far far easier.
Most Canadians assume no outdoor shoes inside a home.
It is considered rude to filth up a home you are visiting.
Good points about clean feet/socks. But you gotta admit, some people have some foul smelling feet! And isn't athlete's foot contagious? -- I mean, it can linger on surfaces (say, carpet?) and be picked up by someone else?
It appears, then, that there are pros and cons to both sides, and it really is just a matter of personal preference, and/or local custom.
I totally agree with PG on the germ issue. People are such freaks about germs and now we have all these people with immune systems that are either weak or that turn and start attacking their own bodies. I have ulcerative colitis, and one of the many thoughts of how it comes about is due to a lack of exposure to germs, bacterias, viruses, and what have you. It's an auto immune disorder where your system essentially attacks itself because it EXPECTS there to be bugs to attack, but there isnt anything other than the natural bacteria that is supposed to be there. Growing up, i was an indoor kid for the most part. TV, video games, etc were the norm. I wasnt exposed to lots of outdoor germs, parasites, etc. They still do not know for sure if that is the cause of some of these auto immune diseases, but tests have shown when people are given some parasites, their conditions go in to remission, as soon as the parasites are out of their system, the symptoms come back.
Just watching an HGTV show and there goes Vern with his shoes on in someone's master suite with white carpet! Grrr.
How many times have you seen a carpet that is dirty on the high traffic areas? You can see the paths that are most used because the carpet is so filthy.
Sorry. I don't mean to beat a dead horse here but it's just one of those things that chaps my ass.
NKB -- LOL! I think either camp isn't going to come around to the other side anytime soon!
You have a point about high traffic areas. But Stanley Steemer is just $75 to do a whole house. Keep a carpet cleaner employed!!
Yeah, I kinda think we're all going to just go on doing what we've been doing. Old habits, whatever they are, and whyever they are, die hard.
There is really no easy answer to this one. Living in Chicago it really goes either way. The only time its clear cut is if the weather is really bad-we get nasty storms that create mud in the spring and summer, and wearing winter boots in someone's house that are covered in snow and salt is a no-no, or if the host asks you to take them off. Usually I find that most appreciate it when you take off your shoes, and never really see people worrying about infections. Usually if you explain that you can't take them off due to medical reasons they are ok with it, just make sure you wipe them clean before you leave the foyer and wander around the rest of the house.
I thought taking the shoes off before going into the house was an Asian and Indian thing. I never really saw it on a large scale until I was in a Hindu religious cult.
Where I live half the year the weather is so bad that I couldn't wear my outdoor shoes indoors. Even a half-hour after entering the house I find that my boots are still damp and leaking water, and they tend to have so much salt and dirt over them that I couldn't imagine having them throughout the house. From end of November to mid-April there is usually snow outside, or at least enough of it to cause a problem (we still got snow in late May this year, but that wouldn't have been a problem as it was only a light dusting).
The other half of the year I tend to have guests both indoors and out into the backyard, so I often tell them to keep their shoes on as they walk through the house. Some won't - they'll take their shoes off at the front door, pick them up and walk through my home, and then put the shoes back on at the back door before they go outside again.
I love walking around in bare feet, as I think that it's healthier. I'd like to see proof that wearing shoes is better for one's feet, as I don't trust that. It might not be worse - they might be equal - but my feet are very healthy and I wear shoes as little as possible. As a child I was always walking around in bare feet, and I'm not much better now that I'm an adult. At work there is a big lawn where we have a BBQ once a week, and I'm the one taking my shoes off so that I can feel the blades of grass between my toes.
For those concerned about becoming germophobes - go play outside! It's easier than bringing the outdoors inside and much more fun
(06-12-2010 09:40 PM)mark1030 Wrote: [ -> ]... or do they put on and take off their shoes every time they go in for a bathroom break?
Most of the time, yes. People take their shoes off at the door and then put them back on when they go outside.
We have a large door mat at the patio - plenty of room for people to take their shoes off and put them back on.
It's a given that people remove their shoes. Again, it must be a Canadian thing.
This is a really funny thread. I didn't realize that so many people had a fear of deadly disease and toxic gases that will wipe out civilization from socks and feet-lol. IMO, if you hang around with people who don't bathe and put on clean clothes regularily (daily), you're hanging around with the wrong crowd and you'll end up catching something from them by some other means.
I was thinking about this thread yesterday, when DH and I went outside on the lawn in bare feet. Yeah, we probably tracked some pesticides and herbicides into the house, on our bare feet!
Mainly, being barefoot is a bad idea in the south, because southern grasses are MEAN AS HELL! How fondly I remember the soft grasses of central Illinois! -- but the best that can be said about the BEST southern lawn is that it doesn't hurt you. Normally, however, there's this sticker-plant-thingie -- when it's a baby, it's just this crinkled little leaf about a half-inch across, but if you don't pull it the very second you see it, it becomes an impenetrable tangle of pain, with a sharp spike sticking straight up at its center.
And that doesn't count the fire ants (they hurt), the sugar ants (they get everywhere -- last night, they ended up in my hair!), the mosquitoes, and the other million stinging, biting, and annoying things that hide in a southern lawn. Or in the case of the sugar ants, in the flowers of a crape myrtle.
No thanks! I don't do barefoot! In fact, after the sugar ants crawled out of my hair last night and sent me screaming into the shower, I decided I'm not even going to do "outside" until the cold weather kills all the critters I hate. So, sun, I'll see YOU around December!
Ooooh! Fire ants! I remember those from my road trip!! NASTY suckers!!!
Yes, I know from my own experience with patio parties and such, people take their shoes off at the door, leave them on the mat to use the loo or whatever, and then put them back on before they go outside.
I don't think it has as much to do with germs and toxins as it has to do with just plain cleanliness... like NKB said, when you see a well-tread path on an otherwise nice rug, it's awful. Why should you have to rent a steam cleaner when you don't have to?... an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It's like saying oh, just go ahead and pee on the couch, I can clean it later. ROFL
The argument here seems to be that the shoe-crowd here doesn't believe their shoes are actually dirty, as they 'wiped them on a mat' when they walked into the house. Or that the amount of dirt is negligible and that steam cleaning the rug every so often is just what people do. It's probably true... the amount of dirt is negligible, and if you are in shoes all the time, you don't worry about getting dirty bare feet or the bottoms of your socks, as your feet are ALWAYS encased in shoes. For those of us who walk around barefoot or in stocking feet most of the time, you do notice the bottoms of your feet get dirtier in a house where people leave their shoes on, prompting us to leave our shoes on, then the cycle repeats.
I don't remember it being an issue when I traveled... I even visited Eslbee and BJ when I was in Florida, and knowing me, I probably made a move to take off my shoes, or asked, and she probably said casually, oh, no, keep them on, and I did, and I didn't think twice and neither did she. In warmer climates, I am usually wearing sandals anyhow, and it's no big deal to slip them on and off. But when you are wearing lace up shoes, or whatever, it's a pain in the ass to get them on and off, and you usually have to sit on the floor to put them back on, and if the floor is mucky or wet with snow or whatever, that gets gross. I dunno... I've just done it my whole life, and so has everyone around me.
I was raised in New York City and in the winter, we removed our shoes at the door and either left them or took them to wherever we cleaned them, or let them dry, and put on slippers or house shoes. In the north, as long as it's nice out, we don't feel any need to remove shoes in the house. In the south, we wear shoes outside, as PG said, to protect our feet. In the house, we tend to just leave them on. Please also remember, as we age, we need more support for our feet, and we also need soles that don't slip. If you want to walk around barefoot or in socks in my house, I don't care, but remember, the dogs live on the floor and we all track some stuff in, and then of course we vacuum or steam clean as necessary.
I don't see how in the world this has become such an issue of intelligence or morality. We each do what we need or want to do under particular circumstances. Of course we will honor the customs of those we visit unless they pose a danger, but we reserve the right not to adopt them.
(06-13-2010 01:57 PM)eslbee Wrote: [ -> ]I don't see how in the world this has become such an issue of intelligence or morality. We each do what we need or want to do under particular circumstances. Of course we will honor the customs of those we visit unless they pose a danger, but we reserve the right not to adopt them.
Who said anything about it being a moral or intelligence issue?
What a great debate! I spent most of my life in a country (Australia) where I'd say it's 50/50 in the shoes on/shoes off rule. It's a personal thing and varies culturally. From my experience however, it's generally accepted you'll be prepared to remove your shoes as a mark of respect and most people will politely ask at the door what the house rule is.
The past 6mths I've been living in Scandinavia where its pretty mandatory to take your shoes off whenever you walk inside any home. In this culture it's considered very disrespectful to leave your shoes on, a lot like Japan. Here, even the kids at school have to take their shoes off when they enter the building. At the local gym and some other places they have big shoe racks where you are expected to remove your shoes and change into indoor shoes. It's just not acceptable to wear your runners outside and then expect to enter the gym and train in those same shoes.
I've really enjoyed hearing the different perspectives, it really helps with understanding people's motivations in respect to the shoes on/off thing. Aren't us humans fascinating LOL
Here's something I found on shoes on/off in different parts of the world
http://knol.google.com/k/shoes-off-at-the-door#
(06-13-2010 01:57 PM)eslbee Wrote: [ -> ]but remember, the dogs live on the floor and we all track some stuff in, and then of course we vacuum or steam clean as necessary.
Maybe that's why I just don't care if people wear their shoes on my floors. Between the weekly cat and dog puke, kitty litter, whatever the dogs bring in, occasional pet pee or poo, and cat and dog hair and dander, my floors are always dirty. How much worse can somebody's shoes make it?
I also didn't know we were making this about morality or intelligence.
This debate reminds me of another one that has cropped up on this board from time to time... the breast feeding in public debate. I don't think there is anything wrong with it at all, but some people think it's digusting, unsanitary, secreting bodily fluids in public, etc. etc. etc., and I always marvelled at the difference of opinion. I had no idea people felt so strongly either way.
Same with shoes. I don't really have a strong opinion on it, other than culturally, I'm predisposed to taking them off.
We could be having the same debate over the use of salt, foreign travel or medicine. What's interesting to me is the intensity of the arguments. I think we all know we're not going to change what we do. Not to say we never change, but it looks like this is one of those cases.