the shoe debate

after discussing the subject of cultures with a friend.. the topic of people taking off their shoes when inside their home came up. 'people' mainly being asians, and the people not taking them off mainly being not asian. huge generalization, i know. so anyways... i decided to test this theory by asking my fellow coworkers: "so... um. random question... do you where wear your shoes inside your home?" the first answered with a, yeah, but I have tile floors, and tile floors are cold. the second, with a, very rarely. and the third with a flat out no. given two is half asian, and three is married to a woman of middle eastern decent (i think). i probably need a larger group to poll for a better consensus.
so more shoe thoughts of.. when people come over.. do you ask them to take off their shoes? i get a little uncomfortable asking people who normally don't do so to do this (i think it's because of that one sex in the city episode, where Carrie's shoes got stolen). i wonder what they think when i ask them.. are they appalled by the idea? do they have holes in their socks? does it ruin their outfit? but isn't it 20x more comfortable to be barefoot? or if they like to, but just think that it's rude to take off their shoes. then in turn i wonder what people think when i go to their homes and immediately take off my shoes. are they thinking "gross!" i mean seriously, the bottom of my shoes are bound to be 10x dirtier than the bottom of my feet.. but then again maybe not after walking barefoot on floors that people generally wear shoes on.