Reader's question:

What will you do if you were in my shoes ? Could you explain “be in someone’s shoes”?

For us to be in someone’s shoes means to put us in their position or situation. In the example above, what will you do if you were in my shoes means, to put it in other words, what will you do if you were put in my situation, if you were I?

Supposedly no two people have the same feet, exactly the same in size and shape. Therefore, no two people wear the same shoes, hence the saying.

What this age-old saying implies is sometimes this: it’s easy to talk about other people’s imperfections because you don’t have to face their particular difficulties and problems. If you were in their situation, you probably wouldn’t have done any better.

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Go to Zhang Xin's column

本文仅代表作者本人观点，与本网立场无关。欢迎大家讨论学术问题，尊重他人，禁止人身攻击和发布一切违反国家现行法律法规的内容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for

potential use in a future?column.