Khrushchev's words and his shoe banging

[Paul B. Gallagher]

Ruth Kreuzer wrote:

> Side light on the "shoe-banging incident"...Many years ago my
> dissertation advisor (Dr. Nicholas Pervushin, now deceased) was
> working as interpretor at the UN that day. He told me the "shoe" was
> really a sandal.  (I've always wanted to share that bit of information!).

I'd be interested to know whether there's any relationship between the
shoe/sandal-banging and what we saw in Iraq after the American troops
came through: local citizens banging shoes on statues of Saddam Hussein
to demean him. Or was that just an accidental similarity in another
culture?

The NY Times had a sidebar explaining that the bottom of the shoe is
considered dirty in Arab culture, so it is rude to show someone the
bottom of your shoes, to wear your outdoor shoes inside a house or
mosque, or to touch or strike someone with the bottom of your shoe...

--
War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
--
Paul B. Gallagher
pbg translations, inc.
"Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
http://pbg-translations.com

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