bare foot, socks and Swiss understanding??

Hi,

Not a complaint just want to know. I am Canadian and ran bare foot most of the time as a kid around the house, along with all my cousins and most kids. Still is like that in Canada, kids seem to dislike socks in general there! hehe. But here, I have found constant remarks, quick put socks on where are you slippers?? You will get sick!! Now I have never heard you get sick from not wearing socks, but hey this may be true. Yeah sure if you are freezing it is easier to pick something up, but it seems more a total convinced opinion that if you are not wearing socks or slippers you will get sick? Also I have pretty high metabolism and often walk around in short sleeves, and am almost always asked hasch nid kalt?? Aren't you cold? Like a thousand times. I am sure it is out of general care and concern, but since I was NEVER asked this in FREEEEZING Canada, I am just wondering why I am asked this all the time here..NOT A COMPLAINT AT ALL!! Just wondering, find it interesting

Maxbe your feet look so bad you are making other people sick!? Just a thought

Its just an old wives tale - you'd find people in the UK absolutely convinced that if you go out with your stomach showing (possibly more of an 80s trend) or legs out that you'll 'catch your death'. Its not scientifically sound (you can't catch a virus like a cold or flu from being cold) but it doesn't stop people believing it!

Maybe it's linked to the Swiss dread of draughts and unwrapped babies.

My wife and I go round and round about temperature, clothing and "catching cold" . You can't get sick from being cold, period.

There's an old watchmaker's saying, "Keep your feet warm and your head cool". Maybe there's a Swiss connection there?

I'm not a socks & slippers fan either, oh my gosh I've got pure slipper horror, especially at home. Ban them forever. To be bare foot is part of my well being.

If I go to somebody's place, I'll keep the socks/stockings on, just to be polite. Sure never caught a cold because of being bare foot.

So just smile and tell them about your life in Canada, I bet they'll love it.

My grandmother always used to get us to put our socks or slippers on for fear of getting a stomach ache so it's not just a Swiss thing .

You can't catch a cold or virus from being cold but if you are constantly a bit chilly your immune system can be compromised which then can cause you to be susceptible to any colds or flu you might otherwise fight off if your immune system was tip top.

The other thing about running about in bare feet is that you can pick up verrucas and fungal nasties which then spread around anyone else running about with bare feet.

We're not used to see people walking bare foot in towns....

I love to walk bare foot, but only at home, in my garden or in the nature.

It's very good for the foot just because it's been made to walk bare foot... and it's our contact with our Mother-Earth

and I don't talk all of the acupuncture points....

Now it's true that snow is a bit cold....

usually we take care about our feet.....

I love walking barefoot in the house. I can't seem to keep my slippers on and socks are rather constricting. Being barefoot gives me the feeling of freedom.

Unfortunately, as I am getting older, my feet are getting colder. By bedtime, my feet are like two large ice cubes and it takes awhile for them to get warmed up again.

So, it's back to wearing socks because I can never find where I last left my slippers.

What about dirty socks?

I have underfloor heating at home... so my feet are pretty warm

And people wearing socks ... I don't see them wearing gloves at home. How come?

Regular washing normally fixes that problem.

So do we but it wouldn't protect anyone else in the house from picking up my athlete's foot or verrucas if I had them, even if my feet were toasty warm.

Try it and see (and post the photos here).

Hate to think what they'd say about my little boy. He likes running around naked, summer or winter. (Of course I dress him before going out.)

I did quite a bit of Internets digging on the cold temperature/sickness thing due to my concrete headed spouse ( ).

What I came up with is that to compromise the immune system you have to almost be at the point of hypothermia.

I found one clinical study where subjects were exposed to lengthy cold temperature with little clothing, and others were kept warm; both sets had cold virus dripped into their noses and the cold (temperature) subjects fared better .

Having grown up in the deep South and spent years in the Sonoran desert I, for one, welcome my Cold Overlord with sockless feet.

How do the fungal nasties know when you're wearing socks? How do they know

when you wash the socks that they musn't swim onto other clothes? How do

they know not to hop onto the towel when you dry your feet? They're damnably

smart, these fungi are!!

.

You'd think he would be able to dress himself now he's 19 years old.

http://www.englishforum.ch/images/sm...elrotflmao.gif

What you mean I shouldn't??? I bathe him too - is that bad??

I see people walking down the street barefooted in the summer time in Ohio and I don't see how they can do it! I would be afraid of stepping on something sharp, picking up germs, stepping in spit or anything else on the ground. Eeewww! I don't like to walk around barefooted not even in the house, I just don't like how how it feels. But I cannot sleep with anything on my feet, I can't stand to have socks on in the bed.

Slippers are a very very Swiss thing.

In the Swiss German parts, the hostess will have a lovely pair of slippers ready for you in many a home.

Barefoot is a no no.

I love walking barefoot, especially in summer along the lake

in many cultures barefoot=poor=poor nutrition=sickly...

You definitely don't 'catch' a cold by being cold.

Actually, I don't find the people who ARE cold are the ones going around with too little clothing on...

I feel the cold dreadfully. My husband feels the heat...he has twice as many red blood cells as I do - that may have something to do with it...certainly he rarely feels the cold even in his shorts and t-shirt all year round...

Some people do find barefeet dirty/offensive...

I dunno, I don't tend to eat my food with my feet...