I asked this in the "Lounge", curious what the general consensus was. I said:

I'm wondering... if you're going to someone's house, when you walk in the door, is the first thing you do is take off your shoes? Do you take off your shoes in your own home? Does it depend on if you know the person, like it's a friend or family or not?

(this probably seems pretty stupid, but for the longest time, when I was younger, I always noticed on TV how people never took off their shoes, and thought it was an 'American thing" LOL ... Then when I finally knew someone who was American, I asked him, and he said NO WAY would he take off his shoes in someone's house that he didn't know. I just thought that was bizarre, and have always wondered if it's a common thing)

Anyways, now that I have access to all you wonderful people, I have a good way to find out this thing that has bothered me forEVER!

I personally think that is IS a normal thing that we do in Canada, but... hey... I haven't been everywhere, so I'd like to know what you guys do. So, I'm making the same poll, to ask you Canadians specifically!

Uhhhhhh! Susie - is it Canadian to criticize a hosts menu? or politics? As my brother always said when he wintered in Phoenix, "I am American too. All individuals living in North America are Americans". He always received a shocked look then laughter. And also, are our politics any less messy. LOL

Uhhhhhh! Susie - is it Canadian to criticize a hosts menu? or politics? As my brother always said when he wintered in Phoenix, "I am American too. All individuals living in North America are Americans". He always received a shocked look then laughter. And also, are our politics any less messy. LOL

Doddie,

Now when I say it I say it with a laugh which doesn't come through in an email and politics are politics... I don't have to like their leader or his actions and I am allowed to speak my mind and I do this about cdn politics as well. And lets face it there are very few differences in reality between cdns and americans and the way we see the world having lived and traveled long term all over north america, really there is little more than a border line and different govt's separating us.

I didn't criticize a host, I criticized two god awful dishes in my mind.... I would never critique my hosts menu during dinner or to them, if offered something I don't enjoy I decline it with a polite no thank you, everywhere I go for holiday dinners these are family favorites... I don't have to eat what I don't like and as I said I am just thankful it never caught on in Canada and regardless of how much I love my hosts I don't have to love everything they serve me. And if they ask me about a dinner even if the served nothing I enjoyed eating I would still tell them truthfully the company makes the meal..... because as a general rule I don't eat meals with people that I am not fond of when it is by my choice.

PS it is Heather not Susie...

Heather

Heather I used your monicker (sp?).

My favorite american question was...Where do you get your milk? Do you milk the Buffalo?

I saw this topic earlier, and maybe it is a cold weather thing, but I moved to England and married my husband (Scottish) and I had quite the struggle to get him to take his shoes off in the house. I was brought up that it was polite to take them off and he just didn't get it. He's gotten better over the years, but he does a bizarre thing of bringing his shoes into the kitchen to put them back on and he invariably forgets something when he has them on, so there is a pile of dirt in the kitchen and dried dirt elsewhere. I suppose I should be grateful that it is dried.

Maybe we were taught to take off our shoes because of the snow?

Mary

as for the marshmallows and the green bean dish. I agree Ewwww.

I have a new house and ceramic floor tiles, so my dog hair would not show and I insist people leave their shoes on.... I like that I have no dust or dog hair... cause I can mop and dry mop.... and so please leave them on and them you will not bother about the broken glass or other objects on that darn hard floor...

Maybe we were taught to take off our shoes because of the snow?

Mary

American here. I was thinking the same thing. I grew up in PA and was taught to always take my shoes off. We got lots of snow there too.

Moved south to Virginia and while wiping your feet is customary, unless the weather is particularly bad, the shoes typically stay on. Service people usually bring little booties that they slip over their shoes. We do get snow here but not like up north. Keeping shoes on took some getting used to. Over the years I have brought Virginians including DH home to Moms house and had to remind them to take their shoes off.

As for the green bean casserole and candied yams. Not all of us like that stuff! SIL brings the green Beans every year and DH and I have a secret joke about them. I thought the candied yams went out in the 70's, I remember mom making them when I was real young but I haven't seen them in years.

I would really not want anyone trekking sand, gravel or anything else over my new hardwood floors. Sand and other stuff will scratch and marr floors. I think it's rude not to remove your shoes or at least offer to. If the host says no then no.

I was at a friend's house back in the eighties when some relatives came to visit for a few days from Boston. The funniest thing was one day we were having tea when this lady started to tell my friend about this wonderful invention that she had. She said all you had to do was drop your soiled clothes into it and 1/2 hour later they were all washed then she said she had an indoor clothes dryer that all you had to do was put wet clothes in it and a while later they were all dry. My friend pointed to her washer and dryer sitting in the back of the kitchen and said "you mean like mine" I had to leave the table because I was bursting to laugh.

Hey Ya'll! Shoes? Whats that? In Arkansas we don't have things like that. In fact we are all barefoot and pregnant. Gotta go out and get me some of those new fangled things.

I had to add my two cents here, too. I have gotten that question MANY times since coming back to the states, "Hey, do you know Angie, she lives in Canada." At first, I'm shocked that they'd ask that, but guess what? I have known that person EVERY SINGLE TIME I get asked that question. It's a VERY strange coincidence. Shocks the heck out of me every time.

LOL! Same here!! As long as the person is around my age and usually they went to uni at the same time as me (but not necessarily the same one!), either I'll know them or they'll know my friends. Usually I just need to ask what city they're from because I've got HS friends and uni friends is most major cities in Canada. I think it's super cool when that happens!

PS I ALWAYS take my shoes off in Canada. I lived in the UK for 7 years and never took my shoes off unless it was a carpeted home I was walking into. Maybe that's a weather thing too...it rains a lot there...

I've lived in a number of different countries.

I was born and brought up in the UK. Can't really remember what the policy on shoes was there but I think it was fairly common for people to take them off or put slippers on.

Then moved to South Africa. Generally in South Afrrica people don't take their shoes off. Didn't have an issue with it though. People drive everywhere they don't walk so shoes would not really have been dirty. Plus the majority of houses have tiled floors and lots of people have maids to do their cleaning.

Now live in Australia where it is common practice to take your shoes off when entering someone's house.

:tongue2:Geesh! Us Canadians are just so darn nice, hey!!