(no subject)

[ladyjanelly]

No lie, the hardest thing about writing hockey-fic is that I'm writing Canadians and Russians, and I can't make it feel natural to get their shoes off at the right points in time.

I'm totally hand-waving shoe removal because it's too awkward for words.

Is it a Texas thing? A Southern thing or a US thing? Or just me? Because seriously, I would never have my shoes off in someone else's house without being asked to take them off, unless it was like family or very close friends. It would feel horribly rude. Nobody wants to see my socks. It would feel super-overly familiar. I don't even take my shoes off in my own house until there's a reason to-- until I'm changing into pajamas or curling up on the couch or something.

Comments

[villeinage]

Where I live( NE USA) a "shoes off at the front door" policy is pretty standard among family and friends, and the lined-up/piled-up footwear by the door clues in any other visitors.

[ladyjanelly]

It makes perfect sense, and I know it's weird that this is so difficult to wrap my head around. A completely unexpected cultural difference that I really need to get over. :)

[nagasvoice]

It may be a regional thing, where snow/mud doesn't come in the house, and not everyone has a mudroom for dripping coats etc., vs. the experience of loosely-built houses in the desert SW and finding vinegaroons in your boots sometimes...

[ladyjanelly]

It's appearing to be a snow/mud-related thing, and I can wrap my head around the reasons for it, just can't seem to make it feel natural to write. I'm hand-waving all the shoes!

The hardest is when there's awkward things like--in one of the fics I have a lot of things happen in Sid's basement mini-ice rink at his house. So. If they're downstairs skating, and they take the skates off, do they put on slippers? Shoes? Walk upstairs and take the shoes off again?? It just gets so awkward, especially when a 'private' place feels so much like a 'public' space.

[nagasvoice]

I notice in mail order catalogs that cater to a lot of snow country folks, I see lots and lots of heavy-duty show-like slippers, lots of sheepskin things with fleece linings, and I think this kind of indoor semi-shoe is what happens.