by Simon Blackmar

Sometimes, the shoe is on the other foot; sometimes, you start out on the right foot; and other times, you put one of your feet squarely in your mouth. This week, Tidbits goes barefootin’ with some below-the-ankle trivia. Shoes off!

• When you’ve made that all-important first step toward a goal, others might say that you’ve got “your foot in the door.” This phrase dates back to the days when door-todoor salespeople were commonplace. Then, as now, the pushy ones are considered a nuisance. Many homeowners used to quickly close their front door in the salesperson’s face before even hearing the pitch. To prevent this situation, a savvy door-to-door seller might literally place his or her foot on the threshold, making it difficult for the potential customer to close the door.

• When a ballerina goes up on her toes, that’s called en pointe. Even though ballet shoes are specially made with stiffened soles for the purpose of toe-dancing, most teachers won’t allow young girls to attempt pointe work until at least the age of twelve. Going en pointe too early in life can be very damaging to the soft bones that are still developing in young ladies’ feet.

• Born in Ireland in 1932, Christy Brown had cerebral palsy. His body’s only mobile extremity was his left foot. Undaunted, he learned to manipulate the foot like a hand, and became a celebrated artist and novelist.

• When a baby is very young, the senses in its mouth are the first to fully develop. The infant’s mouth is more or less its window to the world for the first four or five months of life. It’s completely normal, therefore, that when a baby first discovers his toes, its first instinct is to put them in its mouth.

• Tinea pedis is a fungal infection of the skin of the foot. The condition wasn’t well-known until 1923, when advertising copywriter Arthur Kudner began work on a new account for a product called Absorbine, Jr. The brand-name medication was effective in treating the symptoms of Tinea pedis, but that Latin name just wasn’t commercial enough. Since sports locker rooms were major transmission points for the fungus, Kudner came up with a new, easy-to-remember name for the condition: “athlete’s foot.”

• Ladies? Miss Manners and other etiquette experts tell us that it is a fashion no-no to wear any type of hosiery with open-toe shoes or sandals. More importantly, sandals are designed to be worn barefoot, and socks or nylons might cause the foot to slide around with each step, which could lead to blisters.

• The most famous sighting of the legendary Bigfoot was captured on a 16mm film shot by Roger Patterson in 1967. Thirty-seven years later, Bob Heironimus admitted to being paid to wear a fur costume and appear in the Patterson film. He said that he had been promised $1,000 to don a gorilla-type suit and a football helmet covered with fake fur and pose for a few minutes of film footage. He also claims that he was never paid!

• Abebe Bikila of Ethiopa was a last-minute replacement on his nation’s Olympic marathon team. Adidas, the official shoe sponsor of the 1960 Summer Games, had a limited supply of shoe sizes left by the time Bikila arrived in Rome. None of the proffered shoes fit him properly. He chose to run the marathon barefoot instead, which was how he’d trained for the race at home. Did he finish? In fact, Bikila ran the race in a record time of 2:15:16.2, becoming the first black to win an Olympic gold medal for an African nation.

• That big, shiny, silver contraption used by shoe stores to measure your foot is called a Brannock device. It was invented in 1927 by Charles Brannock, who constructed a prototype using an Erector set. Brannock’s invention met with a lukewarm reception until the U.S. military began to employ it to quickly fit soldiers with the appropriate boot size..

• Can flat feet keep you out of the military draft? It depends. If you require special footwear or orthotics (or have used them in the past), you would likely be disqualified from military service. Miles of marching on flat feet (technically called pes planus) can cause back injuries, tendon damage and shin splints. And, honestly, Uncle Sam doesn’t want to spend money training individuals who will likely suffer injuries as the result of a medical condition such as flat feet.

• Once a baby is able to pull himself up into a standing position, some parents think it’s time to spend many hours (and many dollars) buying the “right” shoe for the little one. But when it comes to infant footwear, the correct shoe isn’t based on color or brand name; it’s all about proper fit. The bones in a baby’s feet are very soft, and they grow at a very rapid rate. Shoes that are too tight or illfitting can distort natural foot growth.

• Why do we say “foot the bill” when referring to the party financially responsible for something? In the world of accounting, to “foot” a column means to total up the numbers at the bottom of a ledger. Language experts believe that this use of “foot” evolved from another meaning for the word, that of the base or bottom of something (like the foot of a ladder).

• In Islamic countries, it is considered a sign of respect to keep both feet squarely on the floor while seated. It is particularly insulting to cross one’s legs ankle-over-the-knee style, as the foot is considered to be unclean. And don’t ever point the sole of your foot at someone – it’s perceived as an insult.

• Diabetics must take special care to monitor their foot health. The disease may cause nerve damage or restrict the blood flow, particularly in the legs and feet. As a result, something as simple as a blister might become infected. The patient, due to loss of feeling in the foot, might not feel any discomfort until serious damage has been done.

• When we “put our foot down” it means that we are taking a firm position on a particular matter and we won’t be changing our mind any time soon. The history of this phrase refers back to childhood, a time when youngsters express their outrage and onemindedness by literally stomping an angry foot on the ground.

• In addition to the many other changes an expectant mother’s body undergoes, she also has to worry about her feet. The combination of weight gain and the change in the natural “center of balance” alters the way a pregnant woman walks. This leaves her susceptible to pain in the heel, arch, and ball of the foot. A doctor or pharmacist may be able to help.

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