Mate, trust me that San Franciscans are quick to pop their shoes off at the door haha

> AFAIK wearing outdoor shoes indoors is mostly an American thing,

It's ultra common in many european countries. I've got one friend where the rule at his house his "shoes off" but most others keep their shoes inside.

It's also highly common for people living in houses to have a "shoes on inside, but only on the ground floor" and shoes off upstairs.

So I guess YMMV.

It’s also a variable rule when you have guests.

I (n=1) don’t wear outdoor shoes at home but I’ll allow my guests to keep them. I’ll clean when they’ll leave.

When I’m at home I can wear slippers but my guests can’t so I allow them to keep their shoes.

When the rule of the land is no shoes, traditionally you'll have guest slippers.

Interesting, I don’t think I’ve ever visited a “shoes on” household in my whole life in Czechia. Some households offer slippers to guests (in houses with cold floors), but you obviously don’t wear those anywhere else.

Coyld you name a few of those "many"?

Scandinavia, Germany and down to the metiterranean and everything east of incl. Croatia I think it's all shoes off?

From a quick search it seems like west of Germany, Italy and Greece are mostly shoes-inside countries. I definitely wouldn't say that's ultra common.

I met many shoes indoors houses in Germany...again, anecdata ;-)

Having lived for years both in Germany and Greece, definitely shoes off inside. Can't say anything about Italy though !

Spain - most people wouldn't ask guests to take their shoes off

> It's ultra common in many european countries. I've got one friend where the rule at his house his "shoes off" but most others keep their shoes inside.

IME it's not common in european countries but guests tend to not be required (though it's usually appreciated), hosts usually won't provide slippers, it's not standard to bring your own (though it's often appreciated), and you won't be required to walk in socks.

It mostly depends on the country. Northern countries tend to have wooden floors and no indoors shoes, southern countries are generally shoes-on and hard floors.

It’s similar in the US. In colder areas up north people are more likely to ask you to take off your shoes inside.

Here in the south, the majority of people wont ask visitors to do so.

Common in the PNW US also, most of the year you'll be walking in with wet shoes.

Born and grew up in the PNW, never took shoes off inside until I married a Chinese. You might be walking in with wet shoes, assuming you aren’t just walking from the drive way to your door. Actually, I bet if you walk more than drive it is more important to (a) have rain boots at all and (b) take them off when you come inside.

> It's ultra common in many european countries.

I assume (as always...) that by "European" you mean "western European", because in Romania you wouldn't be caught dead wearing shoes inside.

This is not an American culture thing, this is an individual household thing.

There is not one American culture. Some American cultures have that traditions some don't. Some have lost the tradition over time.

Agreed with the general sentiment. I just don't think that wearing or not wearing shoes in a house is best described as an attribute of culture. I'd bet it's more often a personal decision. I grant that there may be some groups for whom it's more common, or even named as part of a cultural tradition, but in any case those groups would be doing the same thing no matter what country they were in, so America has nothing to do with it.

This is my view as well after reading through this whole thread. Tons of “I’m X culture and we do Y with our shoes” followed by a reply along the lines of “well I’m X culture too and in my experience we never do Y, we actually do Z.” It seems like it really just comes down to individual choice and how your family or close relatives did it when you grew up.

(FWIW: midwestern American, I take my shoes off at the door usually but have no problem walking through the house with them if I’m e.g. grabbing something I need or going from the back yard to the basement. We have three dogs who are much dirtier than my shoes are going to be.)

There is more than one Midwestern culture.

Sure, but I think the lines are pretty blurry in modern day America. Furthermore, I certainly don’t think those blurry cultural lines in the Midwest are drawn neatly around the boundaries of whether one takes their shoes off indoors.

Interesting. I grew up in the Midwest and I had never heard of the concept of taking off shoes when going inside until I moved to Seattle.