Shoehorn
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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A shoehorn (sometimes called a shoespooner) is a tool that lets the user put on a shoe more easily. It does so by keeping the shoe open and by providing a smooth surface for the foot and the heel to move, without crushing the shoe's counter (the vertical portion of the shoe that wraps around the back of the foot), in this way acting as a first class lever.
Originally, shoehorns were made from animal hoofs, and some made from bulls' hoofs are still available for purchase. Today plastic, metal and wood are most often used. They were also made of glass and even paper. Expensive shoehorns were made from ivory, silver, shell, animal horn or bone.
Shoehorns have been used for advertising and many people, including comedian Jerry Seinfeld, collect themTemplate:Citation needed.
There are various models of shoehorns. Long handled shoe horns, for example, are used to reduce bending and straining by persons lacking joint mobility (old people), while shoe horns with sturdy handles are useful for putting on boots or heavy iron shoes. More recently, expensive shoe horns have found their way to market. For example, designer Ralph Lauren currently offers a shoe horn retailing at $2500.Template:Citation needed
Author Mark Twain reportedly had a shoe horn collection with over 3000 pieces.Template:Citation needed
Turn of phrase
"Shoehorning" has come to mean the act of coercing or pressuring an individual into a situation which does not leave enough room, either literally or figuratively. Shoehorning in a conversational context means to force someone to take one of a limited number of positions, neither of which may adequately express what the individual wants to say (a "For me or against me"-scenario). Shoehorning in a more literal sense can express itself as pushing a number of individuals into an overfilled enclosure of space, such as a theater or a bus ("the usher shoehorned us into the back of the crowded theater").
Shoehorning can also refer to an unnatural-seeming inclusion of something for reasons which may range anywhere from demographic-pleasing or political correctness (for example, a token character in a television show or film).
It can also refer to fitting something where it does not easily fit. The shortened expression honking (as in honking around town) derives from this term, referring to inserting one's self into a place or situation where one does not easily fit or is not welcome. ('"I shoehorned President Carter the other night", said the boy.')
