if the shoe fits(, wear it)

If something (typically negative) applies to one, one should acknowledge it or accept responsibility or blame for it. I know you don't like being called unreliable, but if the shoes fits, wear it. A: "Why do teachers always treat me like some kind of troublemaker?" B: "If the shoe fits...."

Prov. An unflattering remark applies to you, so you should accept it. (Slightly rude.) Fred: Hey, Jill, how's your love life? Jill: I don't like busy-bodies, Fred. Fred: Are you calling me a busybody? Jane: If the shoe fits, wear it. Ellen: The professor told me I don't write well! Bill: If the shoe fits, Ellen.

Also, if the cap fits, wear it. If something applies to you, accept it, as in These problems are hard to solve, and most people would need help, so if the shoe fits, wear it! This expression originated as if the cap fits, which alluded to a fool's cap and dates from the early 1700s. Although this version has not died out entirely, shoe today is more common and probably gained currency through the Cinderella fairy tale, in which the prince sought her out by means of the slipper she lost at the ball.

You say if the shoe fits when you are telling someone that unpleasant remarks which have been made about them are probably true or fair. `She said something about me being in a bad mood,' — `Well, if the shoe fits.' Note: The usual British expression is if the cap fits.

If something applies to you, accept it. This expression is a version of an older term, if the cap fits, put it on, which originally meant a fool’s cap and dates from the early eighteenth century. This version is rarely heard today. Its replacement by a shoe probably came about owing to the increased popularity of the Cinderella story, and indeed, an early appearance in print, in Clyde Fitch’s play The Climbers (1901), states, “If the slipper fits.”