I am Canadian, so Larry Mudd’s theory may apply here, but I would never walk into a carpeted home with my shoes on, unless I’ve been told it’s okay. In winter, I wouldn’t walk into any home with my shoes or boots on because they tend to get wet and slushy and salty, but even in summer I’d keep my shoes off anyone’s carpet, because sneakers tend to pick up dust and whatnot despite the nice weather.
Well I have always had a great way to get revenge on anybody who is rude enough to ask me to take off my shoes. I take them off. 
My foot sweat is a WMD, Something I inherited from my mom. having been around it long enough I can deal with it with only moderate discomfort. This leaves the host with three options. Let me walk around in socks, gagging everybody, Give me a form of slipper, Which only halfway squelches the odor, and pretty much wrecks the slippers, or shut the hell up when I go out to smoke and ‘forget’ to take my shoes off when I come in again.
I live in Ontario and I find it remarkable how many people have been saying they keep their shoes on. Every house I’ve ever been in (besides cottages/camps), people take off their shoes, and either walk around in socks, barefoot, or slippers. My mother is a neat freak and although we don’t do it ourselves, I haven’t seen anyone make a fuss if someone walked around our house in shoes during the summer months. But in winter, I’d rather not slip on slush on the linolium and break my back thanks.
I grew up in a “shoes” off household. My mother is German and was (and still is) quite finicky about cleanliness.
When I moved out on my own, I was pretty casual about guests coming over; if they took of their shoes, fine, if the didn’t it didn’t bother me.
In my adulthood, I’ve lived in two apartments and one other home besides the one I live in now. In all of my former abodes I had a casual attitude about shoes on or off. It didn’t matter as long as the guest was comfortable.
Cut to the present time. We bought a brand new house last spring. The carpet is a very pale beige and the flooring is pale too. My friends and MOST of my family didn’t even ask, they just took their shoes off. Made my day, because I truly don’t want to spend every weekend cleaning stains out of my rug! My mother, on the other hand, will not take her shoes off, unless I firmly remind her. She rolls her eyes, and finally complies. At this point, I remind her about her OWN no shoes rule.
On the other hand, if guests arrive that I don’t really know, I do not ask them to take their shoes off. I don’t feel comfortable asking them to, and I don’t want them to feel uncomfortable. Fortunately, this is rare.
My home is the de facto gathering place and everyone feels comfortable coming over and feel comfortable about bringing their children too. Some of my friends have small children who LOVE to go barefoot in the summer. This of course results in filthy feet! No big deal, I have wipes on hand, and I clean their feet MYSELF before they come in. Our friends are like family and no one is offended.
A quick look at the poster’s “Locations” says a lot. Those who live in northern climes generally expect guests to remove their shoes. Those in moderate climes seem ambivalent, and those of us down south are clueless about the custom.
I think it all has to do with snow which tracks badly. All we get down here is rain, and the only time that’s a problem is when you have to come in while it’s pouring down.
It has to be a Canadian thing. Even folks like delivery men and cable guys automatically remove their shoes before stepping past my front hall. During the summer when it’s dry I tell them to leave their shoes on, and they are often quite suprised.
Bare feet are a little more uncommon, and if I’m going to be visiting I’ll make sure I’m wearing socks.
Guest slippers are also not common here (well, anywhere where I’ve been).
I live in a climate where the winter is often snowy, wet, salty, muddy, and otherwise horrible.
However, I still feel extremely weird if someone asks me to take my shoes off immediately after entering their house, and I certainly would be squicked out about sticking on a pair of slippers that various guests have worn at various times. That seems very unhygenic, and a good way to catch foot fungi.
My house, we have the ‘if you live here’ rule. If you live here, you take your damn shoes off because you come in through the laundry room and it’s convenient. If you are a guest, that’s why there’s a mat by the front door. Wipe. We wouldn’t tell anyone to put their shoes back on if they were more comfortable with them off, but guests are never required to take them off. We also tend to wear our shoes in the house when there are guests, for such things as the ‘oops I dropped an ice cube now you have wet socks’ type things.
Most of the time I have a tendency to think ‘shoes OK in high traffic areas such as kitchen, dining room, sitting room, TV room.’ and ‘shoes not OK in bedrooms’ basically an ‘upstairs/downstairs’ kind of thing. And I generally don’t take my shoes off in anyone’s house unless I’m sleeping there.
Seriously, I hate taking off my shoes in someone’s house. None of my friends, New Yorkers, Mid-Westerers, Pac-NWers, Spaniards have this rule and we all take great pride in our homes and in our appearance.
I went to a Holiday party a few years back with a no-shoe-wearing house. It felt very odd to take my shoes off in front of my entire group of peers. Especially wearing dressy holiday wear and then having to put on my zip up boots to go out for a ciggie (oh, and our gracious host also neglected to offer us an ash can to use, another thing I hate…)
In my house, wear shoes. You obviously chose them to go with your outfit or at least to cover your tootsies. Or don’t wear them. Put your feet up. Have a good time. Don’t mind that 100lb dog sniffing your crotch. You’ll notice she’s not wearing shoes either.
I guess that’s why I have dark patterened throw rugs everywhere.
I run around without shoes all the time at home, but at someone else’s house? That just seems weird. If you’re staying over or something else involving spending a long time over, then fine, but I can’t imagine doing it for regular stuff.
[drawl]YANKEES![/drawl]
Whatever happened to meeting people halfway? I think that we can agree that the guest has some responsibility to respect the pecularities of the host as well.
The neighborhood I live in has lots of folks who don’t bother to pick up after their dogs and the next most common thing to find on the sidewalk, aside from dog shit, is dog shit footsteps trailing off quite a ways…
I personally have a “line of death” set up which my girlfriend routinely respects when it’s just us, but makes a point of defying whenever anyone else is around. I wonder if she makes me keep my machete in a hard-to-reach place because I get so upset at this…
I think bnorton has hit upon something that I was thinking through the whole thread.
Northerners seem much more inclined to take their shoes off, or assume they should take their shoes off than those who live in a more civilized climate. 
I was a shoes-off-in-my-own house person, til I lived in a boarding house in WA state for a month. I quickly developed a psychosis that I haven’t been able to break since. I do not, absolutely do NOT walk around without shoes on, generally not even in my own home. I don’t necessarily think that the floor is dirty, but my feet disagree.
If someone demanded that I removed my shoes, I would…but I would be extremely loath to visit their home again. It’s in my nature to be polite, but it is not my habit to walk around in strangers’ houses without my shoes on. When I have in the past, been forced to do such a thing, I usually end up with very dirty socks, and that grosses me out beyond belief.
Of course, you completely ignore what I said in the rest of the post–that I don’t get upset if someone decides to keep their shoes on. I have NEVER asked anyone to take their shoes off, because when I’m a host, it is up to me to make my guests as comfortable and happy as possible–even if that means they wish to keep their shoes on. Of course, I’m happy when they do take their shoes off, but I’ve never made a fuss about it. NEVER.
And, considering I live in Southern California, muddy shoes and outdoor-only boots basically don’t exist here.
Oh, and trust me, I’d love to get rid of this awful white carpet and put in laminate wood flooring. Care to pay for it? 
Interesting.
Another Canuck here, and yup, taking off one’s shoes is the Done Thing around here. No one gives a shit about the state of your socks or feet or whether your outfit would look weird without the matching shoes.
I have been to places where I’ve been told to leave my shoes on because I’m not staying long or whatever. But I will always at least start to take them off, it’s just the polite thing to do. But at my house, as long as they’re not filthy, I couldn’t care less whether shoes are on or off. That my guests are comfortable is more important to me than minor social conventions. I want my guests to feel at home, whatever that means to them.
I’ve never given it any thought before but I guess people just make sure they have presentable socks or stockings or whatever on before going to someone else’s home. Bare feet are quite fine also and will not usually cause any comment whatsoever. Some people do offer slippers to their guests but they’re not mandatory, you can politely refuse them. But there’s no way to politely refuse to remove your shoes (if asked) without at least offering an explanation. If you tell your Canuck host that you are uncomfortable about removing your shoes, the polite response would be for your host to say “Hey, no problem. Leave them on then.”
When service people come in, I tell them quickly that they can leave their shoes on because otherwise, they will take them off without hesitation or comment. Leon’s, a massive Canuck furniture chain store, sometimes provides those little paper booties to their delivery people to use once they’re inside the house.
Definitely looking like a cultural thing. I can’t think of anyone who prefers to leave their shoes on as most people seem to find it quite comfy to pad around in their socks. Stubbing one’s toe or stepping in glass would fall under the “accident” category and seems silly to call that a reason to not remove one’s shoes.
To those who wear their shoes inside their own homes: Do you put your shod feet up on your coffee table or couch or other furniture when you’re getting comfy at home? What are the rules about putting one’s feet up at someone’s else’s house? Just curious.
I have tiled floors and rugs, not carpet. When I come home I always take my shoes off and put on slippers, mainly because I like to sit with my feet tucked up under me.
I will tell my daughter and her best friend to take their shoes off if they are tracking mud in or crashing around in the middle of the night waking the downstairs neighbours, in much the same way (generally a high-pitched, irritated way) that I tell them to put their plates in the sink or hang their wet towels up. I wouldn’t dream of telling anyone else to do so. One of my close friends always takes her shoes off when she comes to my house because she prefers going barefoot, and that’s fine. If anyone else did it I would consider them odd.
If anyone expected me to take my shoes off when entering their house, I would consider them nuttily anal, and not want to visit again.
Seriously? You’d scratch them just for asking you to take your shoes off? And that doesn’t seem nuttily anal to you?
In many social situations Europeans (or at least Eastern Europeans) take off their shoes in a home. I don’t see how it’s “nuttily anal.” I’m perhaps one of the messiest people I know, yet the idea of shoes against carpet makes me feel weird. Call it years and years of conditioning (I grew up in a traditionally Polish household, lived five years in Hungary.)
For hardwood floors, I don’t care as much. For me, it’s odd that people actually like walking around in shoes. Personally, any chance I get to kick them off I’ll gladly do it.
For guests, I never ask them to take them off. But as a guest, I always check with the house rules, and I don’t find it anal in the least if the host prefers their guests to go shoeless. As I’ve said before, an extremely conscientious host will provide slippers.
Frankly, it surprises me how many people find this request so strange.
No, I don’t put my shoes on my furniture. I do sometimes now take my shoes off in my own home, as long as I have slippers or socks on.
I would NEVER “put my feet up” at someone’s home that I didn’t know very well. If I did know them well, then the rules that applied at my house would apply at theirs…i.e, I wouldn’t put my shoes on their furniture.
I assume you mean people in your locale, not Canadians whose whole culture assumes guests will take their dirty shoes off. Cause you wouldn’t want to be calling a culture that’s different from yours “nuttily anal”, would you?
In my own home, I just wear socks. I HATE BEING BAREFOOTED and tend to avoid it as much as possible.
In another’s then I won’t take my shoes off unless asked to.
I was born in Greece and it seems like it just depends on the house there. My grandmother prefers that people NOT take off their shoes because her floors are wooden and are always dirty. If you were staying with her, you wore slippers/socks. But, if you wanted to be barefooted, then she didn’t care.
In my godmother’s home, you didn’t take off your shoes either as her floors were marble. If you were staying at her house, you wore slippers of some sort. But, in all of my relative’s places, you did NOT take off your shoes unless you were an overnite guest, even as a relative.
I’m not sure about Greece in general though.
I have done an informal LJ poll on this topic after being shocked to read in Ann Landers (shh) that someone was offended at being asked to take off their shoes when coming in.
It is indeed divided by north/south lines. And I’m another one who would never ever dream of walking into someone’s house with my shoes on. If someone is popping in for just a minute, and it’s summer and not raining out, I’ll tell them they can come in with their shoes on, but that is definitely the exception.
And I’ll tell you why: because 8 months out of the year, your shoes ARE dirty. They WILL leave brown sand and while salt marks all over the house. And they will drip. And ewww.