How common is the custom of taking off ones shoes for when entering a home in New Zealand?

[JBrit]

How common is the custom of taking off ones shoes for when entering a home in New Zealand? From my experience over almost 19 years here, I’d say about one half to one third of our friends do. Some people, who have invited us inside with a personal shoeless policy don’t seem to care if the shoes are removed or not; others insist.

Coming from my culture of North America, it simply seems to be a very strange custom (that one might expect in Asia, but not anglophile NZ). My wife doesn’t mind, but I find it almost offensive. This “custom” is as odd and unpleasant as if I was being asked to take off my shirt. My feet get sore without shoes and freeze in the winter in the barely heated homes here.

I used to walk bare feet in my youth in the early 70’s until I came down with pinworm (that the doctor told me is infected though bare feet). Later it became policy in all stores to prohibit bare feet. I knew of no one that goes without shoes indoors in the USA -never heard of it except in Japanese movies.

Most ads here (which presumably reflect the culture) show people indoors with shoes on. E.g http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY4cpblUC4c and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS5t6iNVVM0 –except at the batch at the end where some are in bare feet…and Shortland Street http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPoKRMKQG9o. They all have shoes on in the home…

[Hagabel]

Yes it is common amongst all of my friends. I expect the same when people come to my house as I do not want the germs and crap they may have walked in in their shoes into my house, on my carpet where my kids play and sit. I work in the community as a nurse and I always take my shoes off unless they are really horrible dirty house floors.
I make sure I wear or take socks in the cooler weather if I am going round to friends for the evening.

[jawnbc]

Seem about an even split here so far, but we're in Auckland. City folk.

But in Canada it's very common to take shoes off in others' homes. Aside from hockey and beer, what binds Canadians together is how mucky it can be outside and how tiresome it gets cleaning the floor/carpets.

[newarrival]

Even in Germany I had some friends who always took their shoes off when they came inside, especially in winter.
Here, it depends- I usually tell visitors to leave them on when in it is dry, but I am grateful if people take them off when it is raining....

[eternalkiwi]

I find it an increasingly common custom in NZ, especially if it has been wet outside or shoes are dirty, but even in fine weather many people I know have a shoes off practice.

We do have a shoes off policy in our home for reasons similar to Hagabel. We have some Asian style house shoes if people prefer to wear something, though most people don't.

[kiwieagle]

How common is the custom of taking off ones shoes for when entering a home in New Zealand?

I'd say that most of my friends have what you called "a personal shoeless policy". Only a few are insistent that everyone removes their shoes but almost all of them take their shoes off in their home, my family included. I always remove my shoes if I see a pile of shoes out front even if the host insists I don't need to. Like Hagabel, in winter, I take a pair of socks or slippers to wear when my feet get cold.

I could be completely reading your comment on the other thread wrong, I hope I am, and I apologise in advance but I'm a little put off by the idea that taking your shoes off in someone's house is odd in NZ because it has a connection to Asian culture and somehow NZ is only an anglophone nation. I realise that, politically, NZ is a former British colony but there have been Asian immigrants here contributing their culture for almost as long as the English colonisers. That they were disenfranchised doesn't mean the various Asian immigrants haven't contributed to what we think of as NZ culture. If Asian customs are becoming more prevalent, it's a long time coming.

However, I don't believe the custom's origins are solely Asian. Even though the majority of NZers live in "urban" settings (more suburban in my understanding of the word), many NZers have a connection to the rural communities and cultivate, almost to a nostalgic romantic level, the customs of rural life. British, German, Chinese or whatever, the early settlers were mainly agricultural and this nation remained that way until very recently. Wearing boots while farming, it isn't that surprising that they would establish the habit of taking off their shoes when entering their homes or others' homes. On Friday night in a small rural town, you'll still see the gumboots lined up outside the pub. In the village I live in the doctor has a sign outside asking people to remove their boots when entering. At our rugby club, everyone removes their gumboots and rugby boots before entering the club rooms. I think the custom remains as a practical one and as a nostalgic one.

Americans can be so Nellie Oleson about things sometimes.

[JandM]

In NZ and in the UK and France, I know many houses where it's normal to remove shoes on entry, and, as previously mentioned, if I see shoes near the door, I automatically take off mine. (At our house, you don't go upstairs with shoes on.) I agree with kiwieagle about the probable rural practical origin of the custom, in many countries. Also, when a child in the UK in the middle of the last century, I knew many other children who routinely went barefoot all summer, indoors and out. I really don't think there's anything specially anglophone about wanting to keep your shoes on. On the other hand, we've seen others of US origin on the forum who've become quite heated about their feeling of offence at seeing barefoot people out in public. I guess it comes down to what you're used to from childhood.

[girlwithanewf]

Yes, I agree (thinking of the people I know who take off their shoes in the house) that it has (in those cases) no connection with Asia. I've seen gumboots lined up neatly at the entrance to a supermarket.

[Dave in NZ]

Wherever I go now to my friends houses, my own house etc I always remove my shoes, its something I am very used to now after nearly 7 years here,in fact I feel very uncomfortable if I do not remove my shoes,I am so used to not wearing them in a house
Every single person that comes to my house automatically removes their shoes

[JBrit]

Yes it is common amongst all of my friends. I expect the same when people come to my house as I do not want the germs and crap they may have walked in in their shoes into my house, on my carpet where my kids play and sit. I work in the community as a nurse and I always take my shoes off unless they are really horrible dirty house floors.
I make sure I wear or take socks in the cooler weather if I am going round to friends for the evening.

I am getting the feeling that more people take shoes off than I expected!