Quote:
Originally Posted by ekbell
Aside from ground flour/1st floor and measurements without units, my main trip up was when I ran across a reference to someone who was surprised about being asked to remove their footwear when coming inside. There are people in the English speaking world who expect to wear outside shoes in a private dwelling place!
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I think it's fairly uncommon in the UK even now.
When I was a child, bedroom slippers were worn when one was dressed in night clothes and you had some lightweight shoes to wear around the house. However, guests weren't asked to change or remove shoes (unless it was very inclement weather and they had indoor shoes with them (perhaps they were attending an evening party where Wellington boots were not appropriate). Tradesmen were a different case (my mother was mortified when an enormous cockroach crawled out of the fridge we had in Cairo and met a size 11 boot on the kitchen floor).
Mind you, that was in the days of servants so your house got cleaned more routinely (using early Hoovers or a carpet sweeper), and fitted carpets weren't available. With fitted carpets, especially light-coloured ones, it's not so easy to keep things clean with outdoor shoes, and now with both partners working, housework is done once a week if you're lucky. I will freely admit I only do housework when the dust bunnies start savaging my ankles (after all, after 4 years, the dirt doesn't get any worse)!
My house has mostly laminate floors, and I have a pair of garden clogs in the utility room for going down the garden, or out to the dustbin, I wear slippers or light-weight sandals around the house, and have heavier shoes or boots for going out. Mind you, this past 18 months, I've barely been out of my bedroom slippers.