I like to wear nice dress shoes, so that's certainly a factor. It took no more than a moment to learn to do the first half of the knot "wrong" (i.e. to be compa

I like to wear nice dress shoes, so that's certainly a factor. It took no more than a moment to learn to do the first half of the knot "wrong" (i.e. to be compatible with the second half of the knot) - and I'd say it was in my muscle memory within a day or two. A few years later I took up partner dancing and I'm glad that losing a lace in the middle of a dance is a rare occurrence for me - it's super annoying on the rare occasions that it happens (either interrupting the dance to re-tie or putting up with the lace getting underfoot for the rest of it) PS am also middle-aged...