pretty optimistic to say its piss, honestly
There was a literal shit-eater in the tranch polycule, so maybe he's just a sloppy eater.
Because when carpeting, shag or otherwise, really gained in popularity in the 50's and 60s, people would put it everywhere in the house. If you think about it, prior to this, floors had to be mopped. Wood floors had to be finished and polished. And there were no fancy Swiffers or electric floor scrubbers. Grandma/Mom had to whip out the ol' mop and bucket and get to scrubbing. They view carpeting as a godsend, because rotary vacuums had already been invented so you didn't have to take your area rugs outside and beat them.
But, as we have seen...they didn't really think things through. Hell, I remember going into kitchens when I was a kid that had been carpeted. Fucking nuts.
I had a science teacher who clued us into exactly what had shifted in the mind set due to a question.
It was a combination of several factors.
Hardwood floors are cold, drafty, hard and show dirt very well; tongue-and-groove wasn't "a thing" everywhere. The solution used to be rugs. Carpeting - or more specifically what we think of when we say carpeting which is Wall-to-wall carpeting - was undesirable because you can't take it outside and beat the dust out of it like rugs. Rugs were expensive, so if you didn't have rugs you were seen as poor as well as having dirty floors.
They also didn't have the 'natural, durable sealants' we have today, and often those hardwood floors were under a half-inch of varnish, which often yellowed. This is why you see some painted over hardwood floors. They weren't built as well - remember how many stories have that "loose floorboard" hiding spot?
But the real killer was old heating. You might have coal heating, or a coal-fired heater in some rooms or a fireplace and you'd have coal dust & ash and around your heat sources you would have big dirty splotches of coal dust. the exposed floor around the rug provided a more easily cleaned surface to keep the worst from getting on the rugs. This is a good part of the reason why old buildings love radiators.
Starting in the 50s you started to see three technologies become widely available: mechanical synthetic fabrics, forced-air central heating, and the vacuum cleaner.
Thanks to mechanization from WWII, wall-to-wall carpet could be made cheaply of durable materials. It was soft, insulative, and lasted.
Adding this, improved forced-air heaters - now using natural gas or electric - could heat a home with no ash, coal dust, or oil smoke. The shift from these is why the air in the US doesn't look like the air in Shanghai anymore (well, it never did because populatuons never reached those densities, but you know what I mean; my teacher remembered the air noticeably clearing from middle school to highschool as people moved from coal furnaces).
And finally the wide availability of the vacuum cleaner. You didn't have to call a special cleaner now or be rich enough for a maid. Housewives could maintain their carpets and vacuuming was easier than hauling heavy rugs outside and beating them.
And of course the new american economic dominance that gave people the money to afford these new innovations.
You are seeing a shift back to hardwood for a few reasons.
First, you can get better floors now. Before if you wanted hardwood (and not varnish) you needed to basically oil-sealant with a lighter oil and reapply that oil regularly as it was worn off. Now you have tons of sealants that better allow the wood's beauty and 'softness' to be felt, while lasting more than a year or couple months.
Second, better construction science. Yes, they built houses better but not at scale and often the interior finishing left many things to be desired. You didn't have the insulation & air-movement you have now, even if they had better materials and (in individua projects) better craftsmanship. A lot of the issues with hardwood floors have been solved by making better floors with better insultation so they aren't drafty and the joists don't flex causing the boards to come loose. This is why when you get an original 1930s floor with a little work with contractor it comes out so amazing - the best materials, with quality original craftsmanship, but modern final fit.
Third, changing lay outs. Rooms are bigger than they used to be because they can be heated/cooled better. Its easier to move that mop around, and hardwood/tile doesn't trap dust.
You can also get nice-looking hardwood floors for a cheaper (by % of house) price now. My grandparents had a carpeted bathroom, and underneath was just plywood, much cheaper than getting a real hardwood floor in the 1970s. Which they didn't want because wall-to-wall carpeting through out - for them - was luxurious.
