Shoes and boots and slippers. (Oh my.) This week’s Themed Things Thursday is all about footwear. Try these on for size.

1. The old woman who lived in a shoe
   A nursery rhyme. I hadn’t remembered the abusive turn:

   There was an old woman who lived in a shoe,
She had so many children, she didn’t know what to do;
She gave them some broth without any bread,
She whipped them all soundly, and put them to bed.

   (Someone’s written up a less harsh version, too.)

2. to walk in someone else’s shoes
   walk in my shoes
   walk a mile in another’s shoes
   walk a mile in another man’s mocassins
   walk a kilometer in another kid’s bunny slippers (or maybe not)

   
These expressions suggest that we should not pass judgment on another’s actions without having lived through the same experiences. Among other things, the Depeche Mode song “Walking in my shoes” is inspired by this. (video)

3. Blue Suede Shoes
   Don’t step on them. Walked in and passed down by many different singers, including Elvis.
4. The Quick-Quick Slow Death
   This episode of the Avengers features a cobbler who makes shoes for a dance school, and who really wants to make a pair of shoes for Emma Peel’s perfect feet.
5. The Twelve Dancing Princesses
   A fairytale about 12 princesses who would sneak out of their locked sleeping chamber at night, and wear down their slippers every night dancing.
6. The Red Shoes
   A fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson. A cautionary tale with some red shoes that won’t let the wearer stop dancing.
7. The Man with One Red Shoe (1985)
   A movie about a man (Tom Hanks) whose single red shoe drew the attention of the FBI.
8. Cinderella
   Many versions of this tale feature a special slipper which was used to identify the woman (who left in a hurry with only one shoe) after charming the prince at his ball. Often a glass slipper, potentially based on the version by Perrault, it was sometimes also described as a golden slipper. (It is not generally described as a bunny slipper.)



9. The Wizard of Oz
The movie features Dorothy’s iconic ruby slippers, taken from the feet of the witch squished by Dorothy’s house. The original book by L. Frank Baum featured silver slippers. Wicked, Gregory Maguire’s take on the tale, compromised between the two by having the slippers be of an indeterminate shiny color.
10. These boots are made for walkin’, by Nancy Sinatra.
    

    These boots are made for walking,
    and that’s just what they’ll do
    One of these days these boots
    are gonna walk all over you

11. Seven-league boots
    Magic boots that are featured in various fairy and folk tales that allow the wearer to travel great distances with each step. (Those boots were made for some serious walking.)
12. Kinky Boots
    A movie about a shoe factory owner who tries to find a new niche by making shoes and boots for transvestites. His inspiration, a singer named Lola, is played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, known to me better as the relentless agent from Serenity.
13. They Died With Their Boots On (1941)
    A movie about Custer’s last stand. Haven’t seen it. Probably doesn’t actually feature a lot about boots.
14. Imelda Marcos
    The former first lady of the Philippines was well known for her extravagantly large collection of shoes. Over a thousand pairs. Imelda’s shoes can apparently now be seen in a shoe museum.
15. In these shoes, by Kirsty MacColl
    

    I once met a man
    with a sense of adventure
    He was dressed to thrill
    wherever he went
    He said “Let’s make love
    on a mountain top
    Under the stars
    on a big hard rock”
    I said “In these shoes?
    I don’t think so”
    I said “Honey,
    let’s do it here.”