Herd Mentality

So, it's approximately 8 p.m. on Thursday night. I have successfully been partially awake for the last 36 hours, and may continue to be awake for another few. So we'll see how funny I can actually make this post.

So, at a certain spot in West Philly, on a certain someones roof, there is the opportunity to just hang out, chat about life, and wonder about the little idiosyncrasies of WP. One of those idiosyncrasies that just happened to be right in front of my face on the roof, and one that I had rarely ever wondered about before.

I mean, its just shoes over a telephone/electrical wire. People very rarely look up to see the sky when in a city, or anywhere I guess.

But of course while sitting on the roof, we were at perfect eye level to contemplate the meaning of the shoes.

My wise friend said that it can symbolize drugs/a dealer in the area or a fallen gang member. And here little, old, naive me thought that it was just something kids did to each other to be mean. As our generation never fails to do, I did a Google search, and the first reasons that popped up were:

1. Wikipedia - In Scotland, it has been said that when a young man has lost his virginity he tosses his shoes over telephone wires to announce this to his peers

2. StraightDope.com - Used to be a gang sign - sneakers hanging over telephone or electrical wires were to designate gang turf.

3. UrbanSemiotic.com - "Shoes on a Wire" is a well-known street semiotic that drugs are nearby and...the military throwing boots over a wire/tire branch upon exiting a post

Okay, so my wise friend is pretty much the smartest person ever, but he definitely did NOT call the first virginity reason. If we did that in the US, there might be a lot more sneakers in the sky.

Anyway, I now give the definition from UrbanDictionary.com, as I feel it will be the most likely to be true:

shoe over wire isn't defined yet, but these are close:

1.	chuck norris:the real definition	65 up, 46 down
	If you have five dollars and Chuck Norris has five dollars, Chuck Norris has more money than you. There is no 'ctrl' button on Chuck Norris's computer. Chuck Norris is always in control. Apple pays Chuck Norris 99 cents every time he listens to a song. Chuck Norris can sneeze with his eyes open. Chuck Norris can eat just one Lay's potato chip. Chuck Norris is suing Myspace for taking the name of what he calls everything around you. Chuck Norris destroyed the periodic table, because he only recognizes the element of surprise. Chuck Norris can kill two stones with one bird. Guns don't kill people. Chuck Norris kills People.

See, obviously the question is moot and Chuck Norris always wins.

What Chuck Norris cannot tell me is how, in West Philly, on this certain telephone wire, there are 3 pairs of shoes hanging, then three shoes hanging together. Three shoes. Two the same, one different only by color, and hanging together. Where's the other shoe?? Where's the other shoe Chuck Norris?