Friday, May 04, 2007

Photo of the Day

Why do people throw sneakers over power wires? (Is this just a NY metro area thing?)

11 comments:

fermicat said...

It's not just a NY thing. I've seen this in Atlanta as well. I don't know why people do this (or how many times they have to throw the shoes before they stick).

fermicat said...

I'll be damned -- wikipedia has a whole article about this phenomenon. They've got an answer for practically everything...

fermicat said...

Yes, I'm at work and I'm bored.

MsYvone said...

Hey Fermicat, I'm in ATL too... seen this mostly in L5P. Like you found, there's many myths about it... I heard it's a sign of where drugs are sold. A co-worker in NY has a business card with that image on it, he had a whole list of reasons! check out his site.

Jim Donahue said...

Thanks for the links. I didn't realize how much attention this had received in the past!

Jim Donahue said...

For the record, I doubt it's drug related, at least around here. They turn up everyhere in these parts, in really innocuous places. I had assumed it was high-spirited teens, but the "why" is what got me.

fermicat said...

I see this a lot around colleges here, so I assume it is the college crowd doing it. Georgia Tech has a "shoe tree" next to a dorm (at least I assume kids are still throwing shoes into it - I haven't seen that part of campus in 15 years, so I can't be sure).

Hi, MsYvone - always nice to 'meet' a neighbor!

Unknown said...

It's big in South Philly, too. Local boys Marah even have a line about it in one of their songs:

"Got two shoelaces and two shoes
I should toss ‘em on the telephone wire as a monument to my blues"

Dave said...

I guess I need to look up now and again.

Peter said...

Not a NY Metro thing. I see them in Chicago.

Anonymous said...

Why Wikipedia is better than Britannica, Part XLII:

In another motion picture, Like Mike, a character is struck by lightning in an attempt to retrieve shoes from a power line, and acquires superpowers as a result. This is an unlikely dénouement.