Wearing shoes in the house is definitely not a Canadian thing, no one wears shoes inside the house that I know. When I was a Child Protection worker we weren't allowed to take off our shoes inside people's home due to safety and it was very strange. Sometimes I just took them off anyways (if I felt generally safe there) because it is just considered really rude here not to take off your shoes. Most people have shoe racks at their doors to put your shoes.
I always noticed when I travel in the States though that people don't take off their shoes. It must just be a small cultural difference. I would be interested to see where it came from though!
This shoes off/on conversation is so interesting to me! So we are a shoes off household and it's all because of me! I'm Filipino and never had shoes on in the house as a rule. And growing up, a majority of my friends (especially those who are Asian) had the same rules/customs. My husband on the other hand always had his shoes on in the house. His mom preferred it that way for some reason. She's a super clean person though and constantly vacuums and cleans, so their house is always immaculate. I'm always the weird one there because I go around bare foot. Oh well! It is hard for me to wear shoes indoors. It's screws with my mind or something. My son knows to take off his shoes when he comes into the house and my husband has adjusted to it rather well!
I wear OUT slippers. Like I wear them so much I go through a pair every winter pretty much. I always walk around with something on my feet because we have hardwood. Growing up with carpet it was much the opposite. But yeah I just hate it when debris gets stuck to my foot.
Re: U/O 9/22
I always noticed when I travel in the States though that people don't take off their shoes. It must just be a small cultural difference. I would be interested to see where it came from though!