Sound interesting? Probably not. But you too may be a victim of incorrect shoe tying.
It started with the shoes I bought for my dad's second wedding. The thick laces always looked crooked when tied. One day a few years ago I sat down to solve the problem and discovered another way to tie my shoes - pushing to loop up instead of down made all the difference. Plus, the knot was tighter.
My wife laughed at me when I told her the story but it turns out that a lot of people get it wrong. (the last link is from Sesame Street))
And yesterday I saw a TED talk on the same topic.
Two things:
1. Some dumb things really aren't; and
2. I could have given a TED talk.
Before writing this post I tested it out on a friend and it turned out he was doing it wrong his whole life, which required him to double knot.
Who's laughing now?
Probably you. At me. I'm okay with that.
Hello, Ian's mom here. Not only has she been tying her shoes wrong for about 50 years but she has forgotten her password and needs to leave a comment signed off as 'anonymous'.
ReplyDeleteI was quite amazed by Ian's blog post about tying one's shoes. It was timely. Recently I have become increasingly frustrated with the shoes I wear to work that have these little round laces that loosen very quickly and then come undone. I've had to resort to double knots. I am required to take my shoes off every time I enter the plane when it is sitting in the hangar no matter what the reason. I am tired of having to bend over to retie my shoes!
I did an experiment following Ian's blog post. To simplify, let's just say there are two main actions in tying your shoe. one- cross laces and two- go around and through. When I tie my shoes the way that I was probably taught by my kindergarten teacher my bow sits awkwardly, vertical on the shoe. If I change the direction of EITHER step one, or step two it sits across the shoe, looking much neater.
Now, can I make my shoelaces STAY tied by changing the steps. I did a few experiments. First I changed up step one on one shoe and followed my usual step two. Both laces loosend. Then I used my usual step one on both shoes and changed the direction of going around and through on one shoe. The laces on that shoe stayed tied. Then, finally I repeated that process on one shoe and on the other I changed up both steps, which in turn loosened.
So, to recap what I found was that left over right and under as step one (I am right handed) and then loop the left side and take the right lace and go around the BACK and up through is the way to go. It feels really really awkward because I am changing something I have been doing for 50 years. I don't remember teaching Ian to tie his shoes, maybe his kingergarden teacher taught him, maybe a grandparent? Oh, and I'm not laughing :)