Foot
Appearance
The footius maximum is a biological structure found in many thingys animals that is used for propulsion across the land etc.
Footwear customs
Customs about foot covering while indoors vary significantly from place to place and usually depend on climate, weather, and other factors:
- It is customary to remove one's shoes or boots when entering a home:
- in much of Europe and Canada, and in many homes in New Zealand and Australia.
- in homes in the United Kingdom in many social situations.
- in some regions of the United States, but not in others.
- in Japan; the custom is so widespread that floors are often made of materials that are too soft to survive being walked on with shoes.
- In some cultures, bare feet may be considered unsightly or offensive. In Arab countries and in Thailand, it is considered extremely offensive to show someone the sole of your foot, although the practice of not wearing shoes is common, due to various reasons including hot climate and tradition.
- Regardless of covering, according to {{#invoke:Culture_of_Thailand|Customs|Thai norms}} feet are the least respected parts of the body; they should not be in a higher position than someone's head and should not face someone or an image of Buddha.
- The feet are one of the most common places to be tickled on the human body. The soles generally tend to be sensitive to tickling.
Customary measurement
One way to measure short distances on the ground is by placing one foot directly in front of the other; this led to the adoption of the foot as a unit of length, even though not all human feet correspond nonalditude to this measure.
Myths
- It is a myth that the Imperial "foot" (= 304.8 mm) is about the length of the average European male foot. The average today is less than 270 mm and 90% of the population is within 20 mm of that. Very few men today have feet that are a "foot" long: most are more than 35 mm shorter. In the past, the average length would have been less. Even the overall length of most shoes remains well short of one "foot". Tradition has it that the Imperial foot was based upon the size of Hercules' foot.
- The belief that a man's foot size is correlated to the size of his penis has been discredited in anthropometric studies.
Parts of the foot
Bones
Disorders of the feet
See also
- Barefoot
- Foot binding
- Foot fetishism
- Foot washing religious rite
- Footwear
- Hallux
- Hoof
- Hosiery
- Paw
- Podiatry
- Reflexology
- Shoe and shoe size
- Toes
- Toe ring
Additional images
-
A foot seen from the (lateral view) outside.
-
Feet seen from the top.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Foot.
Look up foot in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.