Forum Indians........

[Guest]

I understand, from various footage on the news about the current situation between Australia and India, and also at other times, that hitting someone with a shoe is a terrible insult.

Why is it?

[LeFromage]

What about with a flip-flop?

[Guest]

Well, personally, I've always really liked that......
and a ruler

[Invader Zim]

Or a moccasin?

[Guest]

Are some types of footwear more insulting than others?

[LeFromage]

Basically, how is "shoe" defined?

Or is more or less insulting depending on the the footwear - a winkle-picker verses a roller-skate, say...

[Guest]

I just said that.

[LeFromage]

Whoa. Jinx. We should link little fingers or something.

[tac]

In Japan is it offensive to even sit so that the soles of your feet or shoes are directed at someone . . .

[Guest]

Whoa. Jinx. We should link little fingers or something.

You're not allowed to speak until someone says your name.

[Guest]

In Japan is it offensive to even sit so that the soles of your feet or shoes are directed at someone . . .

Ah, soles?

[LeFromage]

Whoa. Jinx. We should link little fingers or something.

You're not allowed to speak until someone says your name.

What about typing?

[Guest]

Whoa. Jinx. We should link little fingers or something.

You're not allowed to speak until someone says your name.

What about typing?

Okay, consider it typed!

[Invader Zim]

After googling "hitting someone with a shoe" I've now found out that Hindus consider the shoe to be impure. Shoes or sandals are never worn in temples or shrines, or even homes.

So they are Shoeist as well!

[horace]

In Japan is it offensive to even sit so that the soles of your feet or shoes are directed at someone . . .

...but not to be racist to koreans and chinese...japan is as unwilling to inhterrogate its own racist culture as India

[furriner]

I understand, from various footage on the news about the current situation between Australia and India, and also at other times, that hitting someone with a shoe is a terrible insult.

Why is it?

I can speak for India, at least what I know of it. There is a body of sociological research dedicated to the concept of 'Sacred' and the 'Profane' in various cultures; a noted sociologist in this area was Durkheim. Malinowski is a famous scholar who applied the concept in his study of tribal societies.

Google the concept; the bottomline is that the words are self explanatory. In the Indian culture I lived in the feet are 'Profane'. Therefore by extension so is the shoe.

As a sidelight, it is notable that the Indian mark of showing respect to your elders is to touch their feet and then in the same motion take the hand that touched the feet to your head. I do it whenever I meet my parents, or relatives older than me. The essential concept is one of 'I respect you and abase myself before you' or 'Your feet (profane) are sacred to me'.

Given that the shoe is profane, getting beaten by it is a great humiliation, more so than say a cane. Even if your elders beat you with a shoe, it is regarded as a great chastisement. If done by someone who is a peer and/or someone you do not know it is regarded a terrible insult. Apart from what I have outlined above, the perpetrator is also emphasizing their utter contempt for you.

[Guest]

After googling "hitting someone with a shoe" I've now found out that Hindus consider the shoe to be impure. Shoes or sandals are never worn in temples or shrines, or even homes.

So they are Shoeist as well!

Gosh Zim!

I put, "using a shoe to hit someone," and I got nowhere!

[furriner]

Zim has a 'special connection'.

[Guest]

I understand, from various footage on the news about the current situation between Australia and India, and also at other times, that hitting someone with a shoe is a terrible insult.

Why is it?

I can speak for India, at least what I know of it. There is a body of sociological research dedicated to the concept of 'Sacred' and the 'Profane' in various cultures; a noted sociologist in this area was Durkheim. Malinowski is a famous scholar who applied the concept in his study of tribal societies.

Google the concept; the bottomline is that the words are self explanatory. In the Indian culture I lived in the feet are 'Profane'. Therefore by extension so is the shoe.

As a sidelight, it is notable that the Indian mark of showing respect to your elders is to touch their feet and then in the same motion take the hand that touched the feet to your head. I do it whenever I meet my parents, or relatives older than me. The essential concept is one of 'I respect you and abase myself before you' or 'Your feet (profane) are sacred to me'.

Given that the shoe is profane, getting beaten by it is a great humiliation, more so than say a cane. Even if your elders beat you with a shoe, it is regarded as a great chastisement. If done by someone who is a peer and/or someone you do not know it is regarded a terrible insult. Apart from what I have outlined above, the perpetrator is also emphasizing their utter contempt for you.

Ah, that's a much better post than Zims!

[tac]

In Japan is it offensive to even sit so that the soles of your feet or shoes are directed at someone . . .

...but not to be racist to koreans and chinese...japan is as unwilling to inhterrogate its own racist culture as India

And the caste system is terrible . . .

[horace]

agreed tac

[Guest]

Can I just say, for the record, that I started this thread in all innocence and ignorance?

I have to say that it looks very comical to me and I wondered if anything us Brits did/do/does seemed funny/weird to you non Brits.

[LeFromage]

Do they allow sock puppets in India?

[tac]

Do they allow sock puppets in India?

Sorry, I read that as "sook puppets" and it made me think of a certain Mr Pawar . . .

[Guest]

Not monkey ones.

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