Shoe Flinging


The recent incident involving president Bush (previously at Neatorama) inspired RJ Evans to investigate the meaning of the thrown shoe outside the Middle East. He found many examples of the flung shoe (or is it flinged?) as a cultural meme or even as art. The "shoe tree" shown is outside of Fallon, Nevada. Link -Thanks, RJ!

(image credit: Flickr user NessieNoodle)

I went on a college tour for parents of prospective students. There was a tree with many dozens of shoes in it. The student leading the tour explained that each pair commemorates a "first time sexual encounter".
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flung yo

in the sneaker community shoes on power lines are beaters that can't be resold...sometimes cool shoes will get tossed a little early and people will talk about that awesome pair of whatever at the intersection of this and that.
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When I first heard of the Iraqi journalist who tried to SHOO Bush away, I had the fantasy of a world wide ePEDemic of throwing shoes on wires, trees, etc, as a response / acknowledgment of his bravery and a statement about war. Maybe Christmas trees will be decorated with shoe ornaments as a STEP toward world peace!
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There is a shoe tree just outside of Beaverton, ON as well. It has gotten so full that people have started a new one a few trees down. You can also see quite a fe pairs of shoes in the bushes along the side of the road where people have thrown shoes at the tree but missed.
What is the story behind shoe trees? Surely there is some kind of folklore to inspire people around the world to do this? Neatorama, what say you?
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