What does it mean?! Nobody seems to really know. After doing a little research online all I came up with was the conclusion that there are lots of different theories out there about what exactly would possess someone to tie their shoes’ shoelaces in a knot and throw them over a telephone line.
Around here, in my neighborhood, there are a couple of streets where you’ll find these tossed shoes. I think they’ve been up there for years. Yet every time I pass by them I can’t help but wonder “Why? What does it mean?!”
¡Quiero saber!
So Wikipedia offers the most comprehensive theories about what shoe tossing means, though they vary from a rite of passage to commemorate the end of a school year, or the loss of a young man’s virginity, to gangs marking their territory, or drug dealers announcing their places of business. Apparently shoe tossing is a worldwide phenomenon, according to this same website at least.
That last bit of information actually makes me feel better. Maybe there isn’t such a mysterious reason behind why people all over the world decide to toss their shoes? Maybe it’s just something we do when we’re bored or just to see how far we can actually throw those old beat up tennis shoes?
¿Quién sabe?