Episode 268: Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop

This week Shauna and Dan wait for the other shoe to drop. Dan gets really excited to hear the rather basic origins of this phrase. Bonus: Boarding houses, Bob Cross, and park benches

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Bunny Trails: A Word History Podcast
Episode 268: Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop
Record Date: February 17, 2025
Air Date: February 26, 2025

Intro

Dan:
Welcome to Bunny Trails, a whimsical adventure of idioms and other turns of phrase.

I’m Dan Pugh

Shauna:
And I’m Shauna Harrison

Each week we take an idiom or other turn of phrase and try to tell the story from its entry into the English language, to how it’s used today.


Opening Hook
Picture the tense moment after something unsettling has happened, and you just know more is coming. You’re caught in that uneasy silence, bracing yourself for the next inevitable blow. That’s the feeling behind the phrase “waiting for the other shoe to drop” — when you sense something bad or disruptive is looming, but you don’t know exactly when it will happen.

Meaning

According to The Free Dictionary by Farlex, “wait for the other shoe to drop” means

Quote
To wait for the next, seemingly unavoidable (and typically negative) thing to happen.
End quote
https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/wait+for+the+other+shoe+to+drop

There is a theory that I ran across claiming that “waiting for the other shoe to drop” originated with a much older saying. There is no evidence tying the two to one another… but it is fascinating.

1889
The New Excelsior Dictionary published in 1889 contains the following entry,  

Quote
Dead men's shoes, property of the deceased. To "wait for dead men's shoes" is to expect to inherit their property.
End quote
https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_New_Excelsior_Dictionary_Containing/AfcXAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1

The phrase "waiting for a dead man's shoes" comes from an old tradition, likely dating back to feudal or aristocratic systems where people could only inherit titles, property, or positions after someone’s death.
It was often used to describe the opportunistic or even morbid act of waiting for someone to die in order to gain something they possess. The phrase has been around for centuries and is more common in contexts relating to inheritance or succession.

While the two phrases share thematic similarities in terms of waiting for something to happen, they do not appear to be directly connected.  

So what about our phrase?

The phrase "waiting for the other shoe to drop" likely originated in the  late 1800s and early 1900s in boarding houses in cities like Chicago and New York. In multi-floor buildings with thin walls, tenants could hear their upstairs neighbors drop a shoe, and then anticipate the sound of the second. This led to the expression referring to waiting for something inevitable—usually negative—after an initial event.

This is one of those times when you feel like there should really be more information to tell us the origin. It wasn’t really that long ago as far as printed record goes. But alas, the origin is rather muddy.

1903
Here is one example from the World's Work edited by Henry Norman, M.P., published in 1903.

Quote
So they canvassed the trade for orders more vigorously, increased their advertising to the consumer, and kept the factory going on full time. All the while, however, they were waiting for the slump to come, and wondering whether it would come to-morrow.

"It got to be quite an anxiety," says the senior partner. "You know the old story of the sleepless man in a hotel and the noisy neighbour who came into the next room, took off one shoe, and dropped it with a bang. The sleepless man lay waiting for him to drop that other shoe. Every time we heard a story of business loss and retrenchment we stiffened for trouble. When will it come--why don't the other shoe drop?'
End quote
https://www.google.com/books/edition/World_s_Work/OVU5AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=wait+for+the+other+shoe+to+drop&pg=PA573&printsec=frontcover


1921
The segment Sense of Humor's Place in the Artists' Philosophy was published in the February 19, 1921 edition of Musical America. Here is an excerpt,

Quote
"All sorts of funny things happen at concerts as well, and one often needs a lot of self-control to get through a program. I was singing in one place where in the front row there was sitting a small boy with the hiccoughs. Now you can imagine what it was like, waiting for the next gulp! Could anyone keep their mind on what they were singing? I felt like the man who couldn't go to sleep, waiting for the other shoe to drop!
End quote
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Musical_America/pjg_AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22waiting+for+the+other+shoe+to+drop%22&pg=RA7-PA23&printsec=frontcover

So the phrase is already being used figuratively here.

1922
In the March 1922 edition of Good Furniture Magazine, we find an article by Helen Cody Baker, where she is speaking on behalf of the public. Here is an excerpt,

Quote
…raw material and transportation will never go back to pre-war prices, tell us that, too, and put an end to our anxiety. Just now we're like the sick man in the hotel who sat up half the night waiting for the other shoe to drop.
End quote
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Good_Furniture/zkAyAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22waiting+for+the+other+shoe+to+drop%22&pg=RA2-PA30&printsec=frontcover


1927
From The Trained Nurse and Hospital Review August, 1927, featured a segment titled, A Symposium on Nurses by Patients. The following excerpt comes from the piece, That Nurse of Ours by Dennis Mack from Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Quote
You try rinsing a porcelain bedpan under a basin tap. We became so accustomed to the clink and clatter of the pan against the faucet and the basin itself that, after the nurse had gone and the patient was up and around, I used to give that basin a few commemorative raps with a desk shears at night before we all could get to sleep. It was like the case of the sleepless hotel lodger waiting for the other shoe to drop.
End quote
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Nursing_World/UGwXAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22waiting+for+the+other+shoe+to+drop%22&pg=PA148&printsec=frontcover


1934
This next item is from an August 1934 edition of The Saturday Evening Post. This is just a little snippet from a humorous review.

Quote
No Hope for Harvard!
or Princeton or Army or whoever the victim was. The song was reasonably irritating in itself, but it was that infernal opening that did the damage. It was as nerve-racking as a dentist’s drill, combining the worst qualities of a mosquito’s hum with the dubious joys of waiting for the other shoe to drop.
End quote
https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Saturday_Evening_Post/I058uJ7tEJ8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22waiting+for+the+other+shoe+to+drop%22&dq=%22waiting+for+the+other+shoe+to+drop%22&printsec=frontcover

1963
The chronicle., December 19, 1963, out of Pascagoula, Mississippi includes a little piece titled Downstairs Tenant.

Quote
Somewhat in the mood of a downstairs tenant waiting for the other shoe to drop, the securities industry had been waiting for more than 18 months for word of what the SEC had in mind by the time that the first portion of the special study was issued on April 6.
End quote
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87065526/1963-12-19/ed-1/seq-16/#date1=1960&index=0&rows=20&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=drop+other+shoe&proxdistance=5&date2=1963&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=other+shoe+to+drop&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1


We have several modern uses to cover and we’ll get to those, right after we say thank you to our sponsors.

A Quick Thank You
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Modern Uses

2008

The Renaissance Artisan Project is this very cool effort by a guy named Scott. Here is how he describes the project,

Quote
I invite you to please join me as I hop in the time machine to go back to school in a possibly impossible attempt to become a real renaissance man. Not daVinci or Michelangelo, but ‘Bill, the man who fixes the roof when it rains‘ circa 1573.

Why? Because I think we forget that the renaissance wasn’t just artists and generals and kings and popes, but a groundswell of normal, ordinary people advancing their lot generation by generation, building themselves up through the sweat of their own brows and the callouses of their own hands and, for better or worse, creating the modern world.
End Quote

For the post: Waiting for the other shoe to drop…, Scott shares,

Quote
The Dutch-style clogs on my feet are visibly almost identical to the shoes worn in the muddy byways of the Low Countries since the 14th century. Mine, however, were carved from poplar by an ingenious combination of lathes and very clever industrial tools that have been around virtually unchanged since the 1920’s.
End Quote
https://renaissanceartisan.com/2013/09/10/waiting-for-the-other-shoe-to-drop/

He included the link to a youtube video so you can see the tools he described in action.
https://youtu.be/dt5BLJhiMO0?si=0Xs-9zxeQDG4_cwS

We’ll talk a little bit more about The Renaissance Artisan project and some of the other things Scott has done during our behind the scenes which airs every Friday on our patreon… that’s patreon.com/bunnytrailspod

2016
Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop is a 2016 novel by Mel Mills. Here’s the synopsis from the publisher.

Quote
Elizabeth Adams is a successful college student who is used to having her busy life run her, so when her roommates go out of town for Spring Break she decides to stay home to enjoy some time to herself. Spring break is no vacation when she is first attacked by an ex boyfriend and then is attacked in her apartment by two would-be robbers. Once rescued, Elizabeth has to undergo some serious physical, mental and emotional healing while all around campus, her attackers continue to attack other students, and then Elizabeth finds herself being stalked. She can't get away from the fear and repercussions of her attack and it appears her attacker is coming back for more.
End quote
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31567132-waiting-for-the-other-shoe-to-drop


2017
Now, we’re going to check out a post on the blog Lightarted Living by Susan J Meyerott. The article “What to do while Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop~Stop Waiting, Of Course!” was posted April 16, 2017.

At the beginning of the post she shares the following snippet from Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey.

Quote
 'Before you criticize someone,
you should walk a mile in their shoes.
That way when you criticize them,
you are a mile away from them,
and you have their shoes.'
End quote

Her article continues,

Quote
Stop That!

Shedding Light on 'Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop'

Yes, it's time to put a little levity in whatever moment of darkness you have been concocting in your mind as you've been 'waiting for the other shoe to drop' in your life.

For me, a week doesn't go by without something making the pit of my stomach drop as my mind anticipates the other shoe. Since I really hate that feeling, my mind naturally looks for ways to step beyond the waiting to taking action. And humor always seems to help.

What about you? What bit of bad news have you been waiting for? Wouldn't you like to step beyond it, too? Then come with me as I think through changing my own mindset.
End quote
https://lightartedliving.blogspot.com/2017/04/what-to-do-while-waiting-for-other-shoe.html

2020
Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop is an art piece by Sue Coe created in 2020. The piece is a linocut on rives paper. It was published on The Nation's OppArt page, January 13, 2021, under the headline "Too Many Shoes: And None of Them Fit Life."

This is an intricately designed work. It features a bee trying to help a centipede put on shoes. There are numerous shoes in the image which highlight different themes, such as fascism, lies, coup, plague… the level of detail is really impressive.
https://www.suecoe.com/artworks/categories/26/5122-sue-coe-waiting-for-the-other-shoe-to-drop-2020/
https://www.suecoe.com/viewing-room/

2021
A YouTube short was posted in 2021 by the channel Anthony Parker and the Near Life Experience. The video is titled, Phraseology - origin of "waiting for the other shoe to drop” and features Anthony telling a brief tale about the origin of the phrase. He follows this with a short and catchy little ditty that goes,

Quote
I know the other shoe is gonna drop someday
especially when things are going good
it doesn't seem to matter what I tell myself
I'm always looking underneath the hood
End quote
https://youtu.be/SsFaqdtUonU?si=4VDeQdpBOKXzHmzR


2021
Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop is a song by The Souvenirs off their 2021 album, Love For the Lack of It. Here are some of the lyrics.

Quote
Crying for half the day
I’m so scared that I’ll never change
And I don’t know of which I’m more afraid
To ask help or to stay the same


Don’t ask until I someday solve this
Don’t ask me how it felt


You tie me up everyday
But Im scared patience will fade
And I don’t know why you choose to stay
you keep me alive constantly


Don’t ask until I someday solve this
Don’t ask me but I need your help
End quote
https://souvenirs1.bandcamp.com/track/waiting-for-the-other-shoe-to-drop
https://youtu.be/2kdHsUnbYxo?si=13XBqQwLXakupcGI


Current
Janet Philbin, author of the 2020 self-help “Show Up For Yourself”, shared an article on her website titled, “Why anticipatory anxiety is like waiting for the other shoe to drop.” Here is an excerpt from the piece,

Quote
This has now become synonymous with anxiety, specifically anticipatory anxiety. According to psychology today, about 85 percent of things that people worry about never happen. Think about that 85 percent of us are lost in thought, which creates an emotional experience of worry, anxiety or fear about something that will never happen. That uses a lot of emotional and physical energy. It can leave you feeling exhausted, sad, confused, unable to take action steps to move forward in your life and feeling disconnected from the things that can bring you joy. It may even create the need to turn away from feelings because they are so painful, which can lead to all types of addiction and distractions.
End quote
https://www.janetphilbin.com/anticipatory-anxiety-waiting-for-the-other-shoe-to-drop/

Thankfully, Janet doesn’t leave us stuck in that experience. She goes on to discuss what power individuals have in these moments.

Quote
You can be in charge of how you respond.
It is possible what you are anticipating is a good thing and when you get that feeling in your chest it means to be excited about the next event and not scared. You have the power to change your response, you have the power to change your thoughts.
End quote

Current
"Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop" is a Mixed Media Painting by Bob Cross. That last name is Cross, c-r-o-s-s. The piece was created using Acrylic, Charcoal, & 24k Gold Leaf on Canvas. It is an abstract piece. Here is what the author shares about his work.

Quote
Abstract painting can be an oddly reflective discipline, one which reveals something of our individual nature. I consider style, composition, surface quality and content as important components of my work - and I must admit I have a soft spot for color.

During the last recession my work transformed from hard-edged abstraction to something more primitivistic or expressive. I had been watching the show "Mad Men" and wanted to reconnect with the sensibilities of the abstract expressionist artists that I began my career working with as a master printer in New York in the '80s.

This new awareness changed the way I think about regional art. As more and more local businesses closed their doors and the mindless conformity of the big box stores gained momentum, I knew it was important to drive a stake in the ground as a regional artist. Hopefully my work captures some essence of how the seasons and sunlight, the culture and materials of this corner of the world are worth embracing.
End quote
https://store.toledomuseum.org/default/bob-cross-waiting-for-the-other-shoe-to-drop-mixed-media-painting.html?srsltid=AfmBOorkmrbKr28UHWTxw5J1JzvW8cAK2gJfByQsOA9Vj_N1qYuAB4Nq


Wrap up:
Waiting for the other shoe to drop" speaks to a deeper, often unspoken tension in life — the way we brace ourselves for what might go wrong, even in moments of calm. While it's easy to get caught in the habit of anticipating the worst, recognizing this pattern gives us the chance to break free. Instead of waiting for disruption, we can choose to embrace the present, appreciating what is rather than fearing what might be, and finding strength in that awareness.


Shauna:
That’s about all we have for today. If you have any thoughts on the show, or pop culture references we should have included, reach out to us on Patreon, patreon.com/bunnytrailspod, or comment on our website, bunnytrailspod.com

Dan:

It’s poll time!

Recently we asked our Patrons, You go to the park and are ready to take a rest. Park bench or Picnic Table?

There was 100% consensus on this one… “Park Bench” is the answer.  

Jan says:
Quote
Bench is the first choice, unless it’s time to eat, then it’s picnic table time. Kew Gardens is my favorite park, followed by Hyde Park. Guess I have a thing for the London area.
End Quote

Shauna:
Given these two, I lean towards the bench… but I usually trend towards non-traditional seating. Like those short rock walls, in the grass, on playground equipment… or I just wander and don’t sit down at all. If there's water nearby, like a river, I like to watch the little creatures who inhabit the area.


Dan:
Bench almost every time. But I will sit at the table if I'm eating with other people. But if I'm eating by myself, I'm still probably at the bench. I think the difference for me is the view. Park benches are usually put somewhere for the view, ie looking at the playground, river, green field, whatever. The tables are purpose driven for eating or for those who need to set out several things. The view isn't something that often factors into the picnic table.

As a reminder, our silly polls mean absolutely nothing and are not scientifically valid. And patrons of all levels, including our free tiers, can take part. Head over to patreon.com/bunnytrailspod to take this week’s poll!

Outro

Dan:
Thanks for joining us. We’ll talk to you again next week. Until then remember,

Together:
Words belong to their users.