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What is a 'white-shoe fixer'? I've never heard this term before and it sounds strangely racially charged.

by Igelau 6y ago

ForHackernews 6y ago
It's not racially tinged (except inasmuch as all forms of elite society have been historically closed to racial minorities until quite recently), but a "white-shoe"[0] law or accountancy firm refers to the companies that make up the very crème de la crème of those industries. These are firms staffed by wealthy and well-connected Ivy League graduates who provide services to help even wealthier and better-connected Ivy League graduates get what they want and make and keep enormous amounts of money. The name comes from a certain style of shoes that used to be fashionable among a certain class. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-shoe_firm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-shoe_firm
- heavenlyblue 6y ago
  I mean. If these shoes are white, then they are made of white people skin.
  - dang 6y ago
    Good grief. Can you please stop posting ideological (and worse, race war) flamebait to HN? It's not what this site is for. Worse, it wrecks what it is for, so we have to ban accounts that keep doing it. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- kevin_thibedeau 6y ago
  The term specifically indicates members of firms so privileged that they never have to negotiate city streets filled with mud and horse shit so they can wear white shoes or spats that are always clean.
- Igelau 6y ago
  Thanks. A google search for "white shoe fixer" was only returning glue and polish for shoes. Given the derogatory Ivy League sense of the term, it's a funny one for the author to use. Keefe attended Columbia, Cambridge, London School of Economics, and got a JD from Yale. Those white shoes you can see from space! His 'Wind of Change' podcast was good stuff.
  - ForHackernews 6y ago
    The New Yorker is a white-shoe publication for sure.
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Supermancho 6y ago
> it sounds strangely racially charged. I have never heard this term, and a google search does not provide an accurate context. Your comment is very much contributing, as an earnest question, despite the downvotes.
- Igelau 6y ago
  Two things I've learned not to worry about: how others view my questions and fake internet points.

What is a 'white-shoe fixer'? I've never heard this term before and it sounds strangely racially charged.

by Igelau 6y ago

What is a 'white-shoe fixer'? I've never heard this term before and it sounds strangely racially charged.

It's not racially tinged (except inasmuch as all forms of elite society have been historically closed to racial minorities until quite recently), but a "white-shoe"[0] law or accountancy firm refers to the companies that make up the very crème de la crème of those industries. These are firms staffed by wealthy and well-connected Ivy League graduates who provide services to help even wealthier and better-connected Ivy League graduates get what they want and make and keep enormous amounts of money. The name comes from a certain style of shoes that used to be fashionable among a certain class. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-shoe_firm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-shoe_firm

heavenlyblue 6y ago
I mean. If these shoes are white, then they are made of white people skin.
- dang 6y ago
  Good grief. Can you please stop posting ideological (and worse, race war) flamebait to HN? It's not what this site is for. Worse, it wrecks what it is for, so we have to ban accounts that keep doing it. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
kevin_thibedeau 6y ago
The term specifically indicates members of firms so privileged that they never have to negotiate city streets filled with mud and horse shit so they can wear white shoes or spats that are always clean.
Igelau 6y ago
Thanks. A google search for "white shoe fixer" was only returning glue and polish for shoes. Given the derogatory Ivy League sense of the term, it's a funny one for the author to use. Keefe attended Columbia, Cambridge, London School of Economics, and got a JD from Yale. Those white shoes you can see from space! His 'Wind of Change' podcast was good stuff.
- ForHackernews 6y ago
  The New Yorker is a white-shoe publication for sure.

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Supermancho 6y ago

> it sounds strangely racially charged. I have never heard this term, and a google search does not provide an accurate context. Your comment is very much contributing, as an earnest question, despite the downvotes.

Igelau 6y ago
Two things I've learned not to worry about: how others view my questions and fake internet points.