Foot

A foot is the part of our body that we stand on. We have two of them but they are not called foots, but feet. I don’t know why the language changes things like that, but it happens with other words like one goose becomes many geese and we can have just one tooth, but have many teeth. Like I said, I don’t know why. Maybe there is a Plurals Committee somewhere who decide this kind of stuff?

For many words adding ‘ing’ makes it a verb, like walk becomes walking. In the case of the word foot, we have footing, but that is not a verb at all. A footing is, for a building, the lowest layer of concrete, set deeper into the ground, upon which the basement walls are built. I can establish footing for myself, say when I’m a part of a tug of war team, by setting my feet firmly as I get ready to pull.

When something is a foot it is the part of the body at the end of the leg. If something is afoot, then we have something going on, maybe not quite in the open, maybe a suspicion that something is going on behind the scenes. That could be a surprise birthday all the way to a plan to hurt someone. I like it when I can feel an idea afoot within me. Exciting anticipation of what it will be when fully revealed.

A foot is a unit of measurement. It is 12 inches long. The foot was initially the length of the foot of the reigning King and the inch was the length from the tip to the first knuckle on the Kings thumb. Compared to me, this King had bigger feet and shorter thumbs.

The phrase ‘at the foot of’ refers to the bottom of what we are talking about, like maybe a tree. It is both the bottom and the base or foundation

To put my foot down is to say a loud ‘no’, stop, no more. The image of the footing of a building, something that will not move is representative of it. This does not happen every day, that is for sure. But when it does we can hear a pin drop for 50 miles. It is an epochal event declaring a resolve beyond description. I’d like to say there are some things that I will put my foot down on.

What will you put your foot down for?

jseiler@yournaturaledge.com