Foot. A measure of twelve inches.
The reference to a measurement stems from the foot itself. King Edward II in the fourteenth century was the first to establish an “official” system of modern measurements. The length of an average man’s foot was decreed to be twelve inches—which would have been a very large foot for foot sizes of the day. Nevertheless, that’s how the designation for the measurement term “foot” came about. Our word “foot” is from the Old English “fot.”
(Information provided by “The Complete Footwear Dictionary: Second Edition” by Dr. William A. Rossi, 2000.)
(Information provided by “The Complete Footwear Dictionary: Second Edition” by Dr. William A. Rossi, 2000.)
I just thought I would add that I find it very funny that Edward II, a European king, assisted in the development of our measuring system, yet, somehow, Europeans use the metric system. Anyone else seeing the contradiction here?
I had always kind of known how the measurement got it's name; I just didn't know who started it or anything like that.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I COMPLETELY see the contradiction there. More like what is for some reason my favorite literary word: irony.
Europeans must not have liked him very much.
ReplyDeleteSarah...Yes, this was something I had an inkling about too, but I was fuzzy on the details.
ReplyDeleteYes, ironic indeed!
Matt...That is true. He is on the list as one of the worst monarch in England at least. He was so bad that he had to be removed from the throne by his WIFE. He just did not have a good reign. He argued with his peers, causing many political uproars, and he lost several battles against the people he picked fights with. Just about the only good thing he did was set up a few colleges.
Okay my gutter mind is at work again, and I'm thinking he'd heard the whole, big feet, big (ahem) thing. Of course there's the fishing thing too so I'm thinking men have a very skewed sense of measurement to begin with. Of course he could have had little man syndrome and worn a size six shoe or something and used both feet to compensate. Sounds like he knew he'd need to do something major to go down in history! :)
ReplyDeletelol. I wonder if that saying was around back them because that is good.
ReplyDelete