Teach It Tuesday: Toes

Earlier this week I was late to a meeting at work and there weren't enough chairs so I sat on the floor. During the meeting (of course as I was paying attention to everything going on in the meeting) I starting looking around at the only thing I could see: people's feet.

As I looked around I noticed something: Everyone's big toe was shorter than their second toe. And on some people's feet their big toes were really short, like even with their third toe short.

Now on my feet my big toe and second toe are the same size and if anything my big toe is a little bit longer. I know that some people have longer second toes (like my Manfriend) but I didn't realize I was so outnumbered. This got me looking into what the toe length variation means, genetically and otherwise and this is what Google told me:

• If your big toe is longer than you second, your feet are better built for athletics, particularly sprinting.
• Italians (like Y.M.), Greeks and other people from the Mediterranean region tend to have a longer second toe. Same goes for people of Celtic descent.
• Speaking of Italians...Some Italian folklore says that if you have a longer second toe you are a dominant personality and will be the "boss of the family." (Mob or otherwise...)
• A Des Moines University study of children born in the US and UK showed that those who were born with longer second toes made better grades in school and did well in aptitude tests.
• The same study says that people with longer second toes are highly disproportionally represented in death rows and in psychiatric facilities for the criminally insane.
• More than 90% of the adult population have a longer big toe than second toe. (Although apparently they don't work at my job...)
• And even though it is the most common "foot architecture" to have a longer big toe, it (like having white skin) is a recessive trait.

Go ahead. Look at your feet.

I know you want to. :-P