What is the meaning of flinging shoes over power lines?

Unread post by **Christina Marie** » July 28th, 2007, 5:57 pm

Published: July 25, 2007 11:15 am

What is the meaning of flinging shoes over power lines?

By Jim Goodson

editor@jacksonvilleprogress.com

The shoes hanging from the corner of Austin and Palestine streets in Jacksonville haven’t been there long. But shoe-flinging - the practice of throwing old tennis shoes over power lines - has been around a long time, police chief Reece Daniel says.

“I remember when I was a kid throwing shoes over power lines,” Daniel said this week.” “Whoever could get the shoes to stay up there in the fewest tosses won.”

Daniel discounts the prevailing notion that tennis shoes dangling from power lines mark the location of houses where drugs can be purchased. Or that they mark gang territories. Or that they mark the spot where gang members have been killed. Or that they signify locations where young people have lost their virginity.

“I suppose there are as many reasons as there are people who throw them over the power lines,” the chief said.

He also cautioned that people seeking to remove shoes from overhead power or phone lines should contact the appropriate utility company to perform the task.

“Shoes and overhead lines do not mix,” he said.

A recent episode on the Dallas SWAT television show informed viewers that police detectives use the shoes-on-power-lines as tips to find crack houses.

“You have to do a lot more investigating than that to make a solid drug case you can prosecute,” the chief said. “Maybe that’s what it means in Dallas, but I haven’t found it to be true.”

According to the Internet dictionary Wikipedia, “shoe-flinging” is the American and Canadian practice of throwing shoes whose shoelaces have been tied together so that they hang from overhead wires such as power lines or telephone cables.

Shoe flinging occurs throughout the United States, in rural as well as in urban areas. Usually, the shoes flung at the wires are sneakers; elsewhere, especially in rural areas, many different varieties of shoes, including leather shoes and boots, also are thrown.

A number of sinister explanations have been proposed as to why this is done. Some say that shoes hanging from the wires advertise a local crack house where crack cocaine is used and sold. Others claim that the shoes so thrown commemorate a gang-related murder, or the death of a gang member, or as a way of marking gang turf.

A newsletter from the mayor of Los Angeles, California cites fears of many Los Angeles residents that “these shoes indicate sites at which drugs are sold or worse yet, gang turf,” and that city and utility employees had launched a program to remove the shoes.

These explanations have the ring of urban legend to them, especially since the practice also occurs along relatively remote stretches of rural highways that are unlikely scenes for gang murders or crack houses.

Others claim that the shoes are stolen from other people and tossed over the wires as a sort of bullying, or as a practical joke played on drunkards. Others simply say that shoe flinging is a way to get rid of shoes that are no longer wanted, are uncomfortable, or don’t fit. It may also be another manifestation of the human instinct to leave their mark on, and decorate, their surroundings.

In some neighborhoods, shoes tied together and hanging from power lines or tree branches signify that someone has died. The shoes belong to the dead person. The reason they are hanging, legend has it, is that when the dead person's spirit returns, it will walk that high above the ground, that much closer to heaven.

http://www.jacksonvilleprogress.com/loc ... 11548.html

MiChuhSuh · Unread post by **MiChuhSuh** » July 28th, 2007, 6:07 pm

this is part of the reason people hate Americans (people not the government) because you waste a perfectly good pair of shoes because you want to punk someone or you just feel like it. Kids in other countries go barefoot but last week I saw two Jordans and a Air Force One on the lines over some high school. Damn waste

Unread post by **frozen fire** » July 29th, 2007, 6:16 am

^^ i agree!

what if sum1 started to collect them, he would make a fortune

Unread post by **LcBwC** » July 29th, 2007, 2:25 pm

Not gonna make 2 much of ish. They are used and I havent seen brand new pairs of shoes hanging on powerlines..no matter what brand they are.

MiChuhSuh · Unread post by **MiChuhSuh** » July 29th, 2007, 3:06 pm

LcBwC wrote:Not gonna make 2 much of ish. They are used and I havent seen brand new pairs of shoes hanging on powerlines..no matter what brand they are.

^That's the attitude I was referring to right there.

"Used" "not brand new" "no matter what brand they are"

Unread post by **LcBwC** » July 29th, 2007, 3:33 pm

MiChuhSuh wrote:
LcBwC wrote:Not gonna make 2 much of ish. They are used and I havent seen brand new pairs of shoes hanging on powerlines..no matter what brand they are.
^That's the attitude I was referring to right there.

"Used" "not brand new" "no matter what brand they are"

What attitude? Haha.
Thats a fact...used shoes have a lesser value than brand new ones.
And I HAVENT seen a pair of brand new shoes, whether they be jordans, air 1s, chucks, etc hanging on a line. The ones I c are old and used.

Unread post by **A Ghost** » July 29th, 2007, 4:47 pm

ive heard sooo many different things.

if its in front of a house its a crack house, its in memory of someone who died, its a sign you will get jumped etc. etc.. etc.

I think now people do it just to show its the hood

Unread post by **Lonewolf** » July 29th, 2007, 5:43 pm

Thowing shoes up on the power lines was simple >> "fockin' around"
with weak foo's who'd get out of line. . You take their shoes and fling

Now, putting out some shoes to hang out by a tree branch or on some wire
outside your pad >> meant that "no mas" You're all out of veneno (dope)
>> so don't come whistling or knocking on the window 'cause we're all out
until the next delivery.

justice league · Unread post by **justice league** » October 14th, 2007, 12:05 am

MiChuhSuh wrote:
LcBwC wrote:Not gonna make 2 much of ish. They are used and I havent seen brand new pairs of shoes hanging on powerlines..no matter what brand they are.
^That's the attitude I was referring to right there.

"Used" "not brand new" "no matter what brand they are"

I've never seen a "pair up there" that werent totally, and i mean totally, beat to shit.

Unread post by **$outhPhillypuppet** » October 14th, 2007, 6:05 am

I seen somebody get they ass whooped and in the process of receiving the whooping lost there 5's.
So dude that delivered aforementioned asswhooping picked up the retro's and flung them onto the line.

this was in during like the first week of school so i guess they were still fresh/brand new.

Unread post by **StillNoScript** » October 15th, 2007, 4:02 am

MiChuhSuh wrote:this is part of the reason people hate Americans (people not the government) because you waste a perfectly good pair of shoes because you want to punk someone or you just feel like it. Kids in other countries go barefoot but last week I saw two Jordans and a Air Force One on the lines over some high school. Damn waste

How dare they waste those shoes that 10 year old kids made in Indonesia!

2 tall · Unread post by **2 tall** » February 6th, 2008, 12:30 am

an old ghetto thing.just like graffitti.makes the hood look more like home

Unread post by **natur** » February 6th, 2008, 12:41 am

damn I allways wondered why you americans throw shoes on wires
this thread explains it pretty much

2 tall · Unread post by **2 tall** » February 6th, 2008, 12:58 am

it has a meaning that is diferent from person to person. i've done it just for the f*ck or it.and when we would pick on the younger kids that tried 2 be some one that they arent just 2 fit in

Unread post by **andrew** » February 6th, 2008, 6:27 pm

what a retarded thing to write an article on.......................it happens in small towns as well as big cities.....................................and its all KIDS just doin thier thing fukin up and bein kids..............................................been happening for generations..........means kids are bored nothing more nothing less damn white people must have made this shyt up

Flex · Unread post by **Flex** » March 10th, 2008, 9:03 am

Where I'm from, it just means the weed spot is in the area. Nothing more, nothing less.

Joe Batters · Unread post by **Joe Batters** » May 11th, 2008, 11:59 pm

What BS! It's not just a hood thing. Didn't you read the article? And if people are that fucking whacked out to toss a pair of old air force 1's to signify where the weeds at, then I hope they get pinched. Total internet created fuckery!

atm//TONE · Unread post by **atm//TONE** » May 13th, 2008, 8:09 pm

MiChuhSuh wrote:this is part of the reason people hate Americans (people not the government) because you waste a perfectly good pair of shoes because you want to punk someone or you just feel like it. Kids in other countries go barefoot but last week I saw two Jordans and a Air Force One on the lines over some high school. Damn waste

well then go make a difference then i be throwi mah chucks up on the cables when they is just beat up beyond belief just so when i walk by i can say hey look at mah chucks on that wire

Unread post by **StillNoScript** » May 15th, 2008, 1:41 pm

MiChuhSuh wrote:this is part of the reason people hate Americans (people not the government)

LOL. Yeh...nobody abroad hates the American government. Glad you cleared that up.