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From the OP's link: "I moved from the Southern East Coast to the Pacific Northwest. I've been here over four years and still hate being expected to always take my shoes off whenever I enter someone's home. In the South (at least the portion I'm from), unless you literally just walked through mud or snow, wiping your shoes off on both the exterior and interior doormats as you enter is plenty. There, if you don't elect to take your shoes off, a host asking you to do so borders on insulting. Here, it's expected, period (and regardless of weather). But often my feet are cold without shoes, it throws off my outfit, or I honestly just don't feel comfortable going barefoot or sock-footed in someone else's house. Four years in and I still hate that it's the norm here."
This custom doesn't exist in the NW as far as I know, and I lived there well over two decades, and visit regularly. No one asks you to take your shoes off (or expects you to) when you go into their house. Why would they? I can't imagine. Unless by "shoes" the writer means rain galoshes, it just doesn't happen. Baffling that they had that experience, and claim it was universal in the NW.
From the OP's link: "I moved from the Southern East Coast to the Pacific Northwest. I've been here over four years and still hate being expected to always take my shoes off whenever I enter someone's home. In the South (at least the portion I'm from), unless you literally just walked through mud or snow, wiping your shoes off on both the exterior and interior doormats as you enter is plenty. There, if you don't elect to take your shoes off, a host asking you to do so borders on insulting. Here, it's expected, period (and regardless of weather). But often my feet are cold without shoes, it throws off my outfit, or I honestly just don't feel comfortable going barefoot or sock-footed in someone else's house. Four years in and I still hate that it's the norm here."
This custom doesn't exist in the NW as far as I know, and I lived there well over two decades, and visit regularly. No one asks you to take your shoes off (or expects you to) when you go into their house. Why would they? I can't imagine. Unless by "shoes" the writer means rain galoshes, it just doesn't happen. Baffling that they had that experience, and claim it was universal in the NW.
Perhaps this experience was with recent immigrants from India or Korea. Seems like taking your shoes off before entering the house is ingrained in their culture.
I can't speak for the PNW in general, just Seattle. My anecdotal experience in Seattle (living here) is that shoes normally come off, maybe 2/3 of the time.
Perhaps this experience was with recent immigrants from India or Korea. Seems like taking your shoes off before entering the house is ingrained in their culture.
I don't think it's just these places. I've seen posts on reddit and elsewhere where this is common in European countries as well. It's definitely not just a PNW thing...I grew up in New England and been to many friends houses growing up and had to take my shoes off too.
I live in the PNW and almost everyone I know here asks guests to take their shoes off. I don’t understand why anyone would wear outside shoes in their house. I would assume this is common elsewhere in the country?
Location: The Greatest city on Earth: City of Atlanta Proper
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Originally Posted by Turnerbro
D.C to Atlanta wasn't that big. D.C to Seattle was definitely different. Though I wouldn't describe it as "culture shock"
Glad you said this because this forum would have you believe DC to Atlanta is some wild culture shock. They are basically the same city. Mostly filled with transplants, tangibly Southern because of it, big urban centers in their own ways, and if you live in the suburbs of either city you are living in a carbon copy.
As a foreigner who's ample exposure to California, the Midwest and the East Coast, I'd say there's certainly some pretty noteworthy differences, but it's more 'second glance' type stuff than obvious stuff. It doesn't even get near the situation you experience when moving to a different country which I've done a few times.
Culture shock is very subjective to be honest. As a teenager my family moved from a downtown apartment in a major city to a house on the outskirts of that city. It caused some pretty significant alienation and honestly had a pretty major impact on my perceptions and outlook. And that was a move in the same city, the moving truck took about half an hour from the old place to the new place. I don't think that was indicative of a huge gap between those two places culturally or otherwise, more indicative of the impact any change in your familiar surroundings can make. Ultimately, most people aren't familiar with an entire city or metro area, they're familiar with their little bubble in it. Any change from that bubble could be felt as a 'shock' like experience.
I'm a South African - and there are certainly major cultural differences -although how large those are depends on if you're white or black, indian or coloured, middle class or lower middle class, dirt poor or rich.
I'll say that while we're lingustically more similar to Europeans (white South Africans, but many others as well) and our food sensibilities in regards to quality are more similar to Europeans.
I'd say upper middle class Saffas tend to have a lot in common with people in the US and racial and societal issues aside Joburg and Cape Town both have a lot in common with California metros in regards to weather, activities, etc.
I belive a key difference is the element of fear, to some degree, for one's phyiscal safety esp in JHB but also fear for the future in regards to employment, societal and govermental degradation, and being a small racial minority (which feels esp true at times in JHB although quite a bit less true in Cape Town despite still having the overarching paranoia anyhow that everything Western here is all going to fall apart someday and be swallowed up by something chaotic and African)
But anyhow....it's a smaller adjustment than for many black Africans (although some middle and up black Saffas have heavily adopted American sensibilities and even accents) for Asians from Asia and numerous others with Latin Americans occupying a sort of middleground given the Western Nature of their cultures and the massive Spanish speaking minority in the US (Brazilians being a little more American influenced to compensate for the lack of Spanish).
Glad you said this because this forum would have you believe DC to Atlanta is some wild culture shock. They are basically the same city. Mostly filled with transplants, tangibly Southern because of it, big urban centers in their own ways, and if you live in the suburbs of either city you are living in a carbon copy.
That's interesting. Atlanta has always seemed like an intriguing place to visit. I have a friend over there, but I've never made the trip. DC as well for this respect.
Big metropolitan cities and you get to see black Americans doing well at a visible level, which I'd imagine would be interesting. DC as a whole seems like a fairly lovely city as well.
I live in the PNW and almost everyone I know here asks guests to take their shoes off. I don’t understand why anyone would wear outside shoes in their house. I would assume this is common elsewhere in the country?
Yeah, we always ask people if they'd prefer if we'd take our shoes off. About 50% of the time it's a "yes, if you don't mind" and the other 50% it's "no worries, up to you". No big deal to me either way. Do people really not ask? Feels like that would be rude, but that's just me.
For the record, if people ask us if they should remove their shoes we leave it up to them - we have resilient wood floors and not a big deal to clean them after company leaves (which we would do anyway, most likely).
Bay Area to Chicago - never quite adjusted. I'd argue Fn South Africa (at least in the big cities) is more similar culturally to California than Chicago is.
Very different attitude and interests, can't say I've ever fully adjusted. The things Chicagoans value just aren't the same things I do...
It's a very different culture imo that likes to think of itself as being "like the coastal cities"
That's an interesting take, Because most native Chicagoans I know and have met outside of it view Chicago as the center of the universe and aren't anywhere close to thinking of Chicago trying to be like anything other than "Chicago."
That whole "Chicago thinks it's trying to be like New York" thing I generally see come from either those that have only visited Chicago or Chicago transplants... In real life and on this site.
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