[Salvanas]

I dont really feel any overt need to respond to anything else in your post.

we have a dif. of opinion.
you have the view that one must observe and cow-toe to society,
I dont.

So we agree to disagree. Fair enough.

as for your example:
it depends.

have i just met someone and have been invited into thier home.
I would not put my feet up on thier furniture, wherever i was in the world

Is this person my friend, ive known them from a while, and i feel the need to put my feet up.
im gonna say
"hey, my feet are killing me, mind if i take off my boots and put them up for a while?"

or if this person was a very good and close friend:
I would take off my boots, put my feet up, point out the fact that i know this to be offensive in his/her culture and then enquire as to where my cold drink was.

It's not a friend. It's not a stranger. We are talking about an Arabian family, as we were doing so before hand.

You've been invited in, and are now being prepared food. You are tired. Let us say, hypothetically, that you are a person who puts his feet up. Would you out your feet up, or not, due to their culture?