{{Short description|Various acts of throwing shoes at targets, people or raised wires}} [[Shoe]]s may be thrown for various cultural reasons.
Footwear is used as a [[projectile]] in [[folklore|folk sports]] and cultural practices. Several sports and games are played around the world where participants throw shoes or boots at targets, or as far as possible.
A pair of laced shoes may be thrown across raised cables, such as telephone wires and power lines, or onto tree branches to create "[[Shoe tree (decorated plant)|shoe trees]]".<ref>{{Cite web|date=1999-04-09|title=Do Sneakers Hanging from Power Lines Carry a Secret Message?|url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-secret-language-of-sneakers/|access-date=2021-03-07|website=Snopes.com|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=wbez>{{Cite web|date=2015-08-05|title=Shoes on a Wire: Untangling an Urban Myth|url=https://www.wbez.org/stories/shoes-on-a-wire-untangling-an-urban-myth/f46d882f-dd38-452b-98dc-be406135429a|access-date=2023-09-13|language=en}}</ref> In such contexts it may be known as '''shoefiti'''.
In some cultures there are traditions of throwing old shoes at married couples at their wedding to bring good luck, or throwing shoes over the shoulder to predict a future person getting married.
In many Arab cultures, shoes are seen as unclean, and it is particularly insulting to throw one at another person.
== Throwing onto wires == [[File:Nikes_thrown_over_a_Telephone_Wire.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Nike, Inc.|Nike]] shoes thrown over a telephone wire in [[Charlottesville, Virginia]]]] [[File:Shoefiti Europaplatz Bern 08.jpg|thumb|A large number of shoes on wires in [[Bern]], [[Switzerland]] in 2026]]
Shoes are thrown onto wires in both rural and urban areas, and their perceived meaning varies from region to region. Often, the shoes are [[Sneaker (footwear)|sneakers]].<ref name="wbez" /> The custom may have originated in [[North America]], but it is found around the world.
Many cultural variations exist and differences abound between socioeconomic areas and age groups. In some cultures, shoes are flung as part of a [[rite of passage]], e.g. to commemorate the end of a [[school]] year or a forthcoming [[marriage]].
Some theories suggest the custom originated with members of the [[military]], who are said to have thrown military boots, often painted orange or some other conspicuous color, at overhead wires as a part of a rite of passage after completing [[basic training]] or when leaving the service.<ref name="sd">{{Cite web |last=Adams |first=Cecil |date=August 2, 1996 |title=The Straight Dope: Why do you see pairs of shoes hanging by the laces from power lines? |url=http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_274.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000815203112/http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_274.html |archive-date=2000-08-15 |access-date=2023-07-03 |website=The Straight Dope |publisher=[[Chicago Reader]]}}</ref> In the 1997 film ''[[Wag the Dog]]'', shoe tossing is an allegedly spontaneous tribute to Sgt. William Schumann, played by [[Woody Harrelson]], who has purportedly been shot down behind enemy lines in [[Albania]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Thanouli|first=Eleftheria|title=Wag the Dog: A Study on Film and Reality in the Digital Age|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|year=2013|isbn=978-1-4411-8936-3|location=New York|pages=96–97}}</ref>
Shoe-tossing may be a form of bullying, where a bully steals a pair of shoes and tosses them where they are unlikely to be retrieved.<ref name=wbez/> Shoe tossing has also been explained as a [[practical joke]] played on [[drunkenness|drunks]] who wake up to find their shoes missing.
===Gang messaging===
Shoes on a telephone wire are popularly said to be linked to organized crime, signifying the location of gang turf,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cahn |first1=Lauren |title=What Do Shoes on Power Lines Mean? |url=https://www.rd.com/article/shoes-on-power-lines/ |access-date=4 February 2026 |work=Reader's Digest |date=22 February 2023}}</ref> commemorating the death of a gang member or a non-gang member who lived in the area. The shoes are also rumored to mark a spot for drug deals or to indicate a nearby [[Drug house|crack-house]], in which case they can be called "crack tennies".<ref>{{Cite web |last=DeWitt |first=David |date=2013-03-10 |title=Who takes them down? |url=https://www.athensnews.com/news/local/who-takes-them-down/article_591bf831-2f86-5b04-bbfd-a6388562cfb8.html |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=The Athens NEWS |language=en}}</ref>
A 2003 newsletter from former [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]], California, mayor James Hahn cited fears of many L.A. residents that "these shoes indicate sites at which drugs are sold or worse yet, gang turf," and that city and utility employees had launched a program to remove the shoes.<ref name="sd" /><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.lacity.org/mayor/teamworkla/newsletters/teamworkla_intrnewsletters72311897_06102003.pdf |title= East Los Angeles NSC Combats Problem of Overhead Shoes on Wires |access-date= 2007-06-15 |author= TeamWork LA |year= c. 2003 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20031007130106/http://www.lacity.org/mayor/teamworkla/newsletters/teamworkla_intrnewsletters72311897_06102003.pdf |archive-date=2003-10-07}}</ref>
However, it is difficult to determine whether shoes were placed by gang members for gang-related purposes, and police officers in several jurisdictions believe it to be a myth.<ref name=wbez/>
More conclusively, a 2015 study of shoe-tossing data in Chicago failed to establish a causal connection between drug dealing and shoefiti.<ref name=wbez/>
==Wedding customs== [[File:1905-02-11 front Final Scene Shy Lady (cropped).jpg|thumb|1905 British humorous postcard showing a shoe being thrown in a comically violent manner at a bridegroom]] Shoe-throwing is a [[wedding superstition]] in several cultures.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Shoe-Throwing at Weddings|first=James E.|last=Crombie|author-link=James Edward Crombie|journal=[[Folklore (journal)|Folklore]]|volume=6|issue=3|date=September 1895|pages=258–281|doi=10.1080/0015587X.1895.9720312|language=en|jstor=1252997|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1794589}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Throwing the Slipper|first=G.|last=Lansing|journal=The Old Testament Student|volume=4|issue=4|date=December 1884|pages=182–184|publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]|doi=10.1086/469556|jstor=3156346|doi-access=}}</ref> In Victorian England, people would pelt "a bride and bridegroom with old shoes when they start on their honeymoon."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-08-25 |title=Love, marriage … and a barrage of shoes |url=http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/aug/25/love-marriage-shoes-throw-bride-groom |access-date=2021-03-07 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref> In [[Charles Dickens]]' novel ''[[David Copperfield]]'' (1850), the custom is recorded by the [[David Copperfield (character)|narrator]] following his marriage to [[Dora Spenlow]]:<ref>{{cite journal|title="Throwing the Wedding-Shoe": Foundational Violence, Unhappy Couples, and Murderous Women|first=Marlene|last=Tromp|journal=Victorian Review|volume=39|issue=2|year=2013|pages=39–43|publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press|doi=10.1353/vcr.2013.0042|jstor=24497062|s2cid=161522499}}</ref>{{quote|When we were all in a bustle outside the door, I found that Mr. Peggotty was prepared with an old shoe, which was to be thrown after us for luck, and which he offered to Mrs. Gummidge for that purpose.}} In 1887, an article in ''[[The New York Times]]'' observed that: "[The] custom of throwing one or more old shoes after the bride and groom either when they go to church to be married or when they start on their wedding journey, is so old that the memory of man stretches not back to its beginning."<ref>{{cite news|title=THROWING THE WEDDING SHOE|work=[[The New York Times]]|location=New York|date=11 February 1887|page=3}}</ref>
[[Peter Ditchfield]], writing in ''Old English Customs Extant at the Present Time'' (1896), expands: "We also throw old shoes after young married folk in order to express our wishes for their good fortune. Probably this was not the original meaning of the custom. The throwing of a shoe after a bride was a symbol of renunciation of dominion and authority over her by her father or guardian, and this receipt of the shoe by the bridegroom was an omen that the authority was transferred to him. In Kent the shoe is thrown by the principal [[bridesmaid]], and the others run after it. It is supposed that she who gets it will be married first. It is then thrown amongst the men, and he who is hit will be first wedded."<ref>{{cite book|title=Old English Customs Extant at the Present Time|first=P.H.|last=Ditchfield|author-link=Peter Ditchfield|year=1896|page=110}}</ref>
In the [[Czech Republic]], there is a [[folk tradition]] of shoe-tossing on [[Christmas Eve]]. Unmarried girls toss a shoe over their shoulder against the house door. If the shoe points outward the house, they will get married the next year.
==Protest== {{main|List of shoe-throwing incidents}} In many [[Arab people|Arab]] cultures, showing the sole of one's shoe is considered insulting, as it is regarded as unclean for its contact with the ground. Attacking a person with a shoe can be seen as "adding insult to injury".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Asser |first1=Martin |title=Bush shoe-ing worst Arab insult |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7783325.stm |access-date=14 June 2023 |date=15 December 2008}}</ref>
[[File:Bush shoeing incident.jpg|thumb|right|U.S. president [[George W. Bush]] ducking a thrown shoe while Iraq prime minister [[Nouri al-Maliki]] attempts to catch it.]] In 2008, Iraqi journalist [[Muntadar al-Zaidi]] was arrested for [[Bush shoeing incident|throwing two shoes at United States President George W. Bush]] while the president was visiting [[Baghdad]] in protest against the American military invasion and subsequent occupation. Al-Zaidi shouted in Arabic: "This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, dog! This is from the widows, the orphans and those killed in Iraq!"<ref>{{cite journal|last=Ibrahim|first=Yasmin|title=The Art of Shoe-Throwing: Shoes as a Symbol of Protest and Popular Imagination|journal=Media, War & Conflict|volume=2|issue=2|year=2009|pages=213–226|doi=10.1177/1750635209104655|jstor=26000139|s2cid=143803542}}</ref> President Bush ducked and was not struck by the shoes.<ref name="Asser_Martin">{{cite web |last=Asser|first=Martin |title=Bush shoe-ing worst Arab insult |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7783325.stm |access-date=July 22, 2012 |publisher=[[BBC News]]|date=December 15, 2008}}</ref>
Shoe throwing as an insult is not limited to the Arab world; other notable incidents have involved [[celebrity|celebrities]] and world leaders including [[Steve McCarthy (boxer)|Steve McCarthy]], [[David Beckham]], [[Lily Allen]], and [[Wen Jiabao]].<ref name="metro_shoe">{{cite news|title=Top 5 famous shoe throwing incidents |url=https://metro.co.uk/2009/04/08/top-5-famous-shoe-throwing-incidents-12557/ |work=[[Metro (British newspaper)|Metro]]}}</ref>
==Sports and games== [[File:Wellie Wanging. One handed forward throw method.JPG|thumb|upright|A competitor at a wellie wanging sporting event]] [[Wellie wanging]], also known as boot throwing or gumboot tossing, is a sport in which competitors are required to throw a [[Wellington boot]] as far as possible.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Crown and People|first=Philip|last=Ziegler|publisher=Harper Collins|year=1978|isbn=978-0-002-11373-1|page=186|author-link=Philip Ziegler}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Bizarre sporting moments|work=[[The Sunday Times]]|location=London|date=29 April 2001|page=5|first=Roland|last=White}}</ref> The sport appears to have originated in the [[West Country]] of [[England]] in the 1970s, and rapidly became a popular activity at [[Fête|village fêtes]] and fundraising events across Britain.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Record Breakers of The Air|first=Rupert|last=Matthews|page=[https://archive.org/details/recordbreakersof00matt/page/31 31]|publisher=Troll Associates|year=1990|isbn=0816719217|url=https://archive.org/details/recordbreakersof00matt/page/31}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Pulling the wool with a shade|work=[[The Times]]|location=London|date=14 May 1987|first=Pearson|last=Phillips}}</ref><ref name="White1">{{Cite news|title=Country strife|first=Roland|last=White|work=[[The Sunday Times]]|location=London|date=4 April 1999|page=10}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Straight From the Force's Mouth|first=Dave|last=Prowse|author-link=David Prowse|publisher=Apex Publishing|year=2011|isbn=978-1-907-79299-1|page=21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Don't Tell I, Tell 'Ee!|page=[https://archive.org/details/donttellitelleea00evan/page/73 73]|first=Roger|last=Evans|year=2005|publisher=Countryside Books|isbn=978-1-853-06916-1|url=https://archive.org/details/donttellitelleea00evan/page/73}}</ref> The sport is now played in many different countries, including Australia, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand and Russia.
Shoes have also been turned into objects for many other group activities and [[game]]s that involve throwing, but which don't involve throwing shoes over a wire or branch.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Shoe games|url=https://www.youthwork-practice.com/games/Shoe-games.html|access-date=2021-03-07|website=www.youthwork-practice.com|language=en-US}}</ref>
One [[physical education]] game has participants put into two groups. The two groups create two lines by sitting parallel to one another. The participants then take off their shoes and throw them into the middle of the playing area, which is in between the two groups. The game starts when the teacher or referee says so. The goal of the game is for the participants to stand up from their lines and run to the middle to find their shoe. Participants then have to put their shoes back on and sit back in the same order they were sitting. The first group to get everyone back to the line wins.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Shoe Toss - How Fast? {{!}} Elementary PE Games|url=https://www.pegames.org/weekly-challenges-category/shoe-toss/|access-date=2021-03-07|language=en-US}}</ref>
Another example of a shoe-based game is a smaller group activity that requires two pairs of shoes, two chairs, two plastic bottles, and two participants. The bottles are placed in the center of the gameplay area, and the chairs are positioned on opposite sides of the bottles, so that the game play area forms a line. The two participants start in the middle by the bottles, run to their chair, sit down, take their shoes off, and throw their shoes at the bottles. Whoever hits their bottle over first wins.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Shoe Toss |website=ythmin.com|url=https://ythmin.com/shoe-toss/|access-date=2021-03-07|language=en-AU}}</ref>
Shoe throwing also appears in [[video game]]s. ''Half Dead'' and ''Half Dead 2'' feature shoe throwing as one of the main [[game mechanics]]. The game has the player trapped in square rooms with doors on all sides, and it requires them to explore different rooms in order to find the exit and escape. However, most of the rooms have deadly traps in them. The shoe throwing mechanic lets the player identify if a room has a trap in it. The player throws a shoe into a room and it will set off a trap, if there are any.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2016-09-26|title=Half Dead (Video Game)|url=https://www.dreadcentral.com/reviews/191312/half-dead-video-game/|access-date=2021-03-07|website=Dread Central|language=en-US}}</ref>
==Decoration== [[File:Shoe tree at Morley field.jpg|thumb|A shoe tree in San Diego, California]] Shoes are sometimes thrown into a tree to festoon it as a "[[Shoe tree (decorated plant)|shoe tree]]".<ref name="rsa">[http://www.roadsideamerica.com/set/shoetrees.html Shoe Trees]. Roadside America.</ref> Occasionally, a powerline pole or other wooden object may be decorated in the same way.<ref name="rsa"/>
Shoe trees are generally located alongside major local thoroughfares and they may have a theme (such as [[high-heeled shoe]]s).
== See also ==
* {{annotated link|Abandoned footwear}} * {{annotated link|Bolas}} * {{annotated link|Ghost shoes}} * {{annotated link|Panty tree}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commonscat|Shoes hanging from overhead wires}} {{sisterlinks|shoe throwing}} * [https://www.rd.com/article/shoes-on-power-lines Reader's Digest article] about Shoes on a Power Line * [https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8334137.stm Close-Up: New York's hanging sneakers] – [[BBC News]] report looking at the phenomenon
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]] [[Category:Gangs in the United States]] [[Category:Recurring elements in folklore]] [[Category:Street games]] [[Category:Urban legends]] [[Category:Uses of shoes|Tossing]] [[Category:Vandalism]] [[Category:Shoes in culture|Tossing]] [[Category:Throwing]]