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Can you lick your foot?

Elizabeth has a wart on her foot, probably picked up at the swimming pool. Last night we caught her licking it in the bath. Grossness of licking one’s wart aside, Ben said, “If only we could still lick our feet”. To which I said, “Speak for yourself. I can still lick mine,” and then I gave him a demonstration. Ben thinks that people over 35 who can still lick their feet are freaks.

I thought I’d conduct a poll to see how many people aged 35 and over can lick their feet. If you’re younger than 35, sorry, you can’t participate in this poll. Thank you!

 

 

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Rachel M

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23 responses to “Can you lick your foot?”

  1. Chait Avatar
    Chait

    It’s good to be ineligible for some polls 🙂

    Reply
    1. Rachel M Avatar
      Rachel M

      haha

      Reply
  2. Sarah Jane Hird Avatar
    Sarah Jane Hird

    I’m 46 and yup, I can do that! Some people are more flexible than others is all- I haven’t been able to do the lotus position since I was about 10- In India, there were some people talking about going to an Ashram to learn yoga- getting up at sparrow fart in order to meditate and be flexible enough to manage the lotus did not strike me as a holiday goal I wished to attain…Flexibility is useful when one wishes to reduce the risk of injury from doing crazy things like licking ones feet- Perhaps Ben has a point! lol…

    Reply
    1. Rachel M Avatar
      Rachel M

      Yes, I used to do yoga but haven’t done it for years. I’m sure I could lick my foot even before yoga though. But I can’t do the splits.

      Reply
  3. anniegoldfisher Avatar
    anniegoldfisher

    I used to be able to lick both feet easily. Now it’s just the left foot. Great if you want to bite your toenails. 🙂 Nah…on second thoughts, I might use a nail clipper. Not good for my teeth. 🙂

    Reply
    1. Rachel M Avatar
      Rachel M

      Good point. I just tried licking my other foot and although it was a bit harder I can still do it. I’ll have to make sure I practise 🙂

      Reply
  4. scifihammy Avatar
    scifihammy

    Weird survey I have to say! 🙂 But No, I can’t lick my foot and I don’t remember being able to do so from way way before 35. However, I can touch my toes and even put my hands flat on the ground – without bending my knees.
    As Sarah Jane says, some people are more flexible than others, and I think Asians whose habit it is to sit cross-legged may do better on your pole than us Europeans; certainly they rarely need hip replacements!

    Reply
    1. Rachel M Avatar
      Rachel M

      Well touching toes is pretty good too. I do tend to sit cross-legged quite often, even at my desk and sometimes also at the dinner table 🙂

      Reply
  5. Sandy McFadden Avatar
    Sandy McFadden

    I’m with Ben, I think you’re a freak 😉

    I don’t know when I might have been able to do this even as a child I wasn’t flexible.

    Reply
    1. Rachel M Avatar
      Rachel M

      You’re just jealous because you can’t do it 😉

      Reply
  6. Graham With Hats Avatar
    Graham With Hats

    Thanks to modern medical science, one can be fitted with a tongue extension and at the same time have old wives tales removed. 🙂

    Reply
    1. Rachel M Avatar
      Rachel M

      I wonder whether it works on people who spread nonsense on the web?

      Reply
      1. Graham With Hats Avatar
        Graham With Hats

        You think that’s bad:-

        I say, I say, I say, my dog can lick it’s own feet
        Really, I wish I could do that
        Give him a biscuit and he will let you

        (The original is far to rude for your ears)

  7. Victor Venema Avatar
    Victor Venema

    Ben is probably siting too much, like so many of us. Would subscribe a program of massages, stretching, regular breaks and yoga.

    Reply
  8. Mukei Avatar
    Mukei

    My first thought on reading this was, Oh dear, I hope Elizabeth isn’t now at risk of getting a wart on her tongue or lips. But I couldn’t remember any details of the infection that causes warts, so of course, I went to Wikipedia. Turns out there are quite a number of human papilloma viruses that can cause warts. The one that causes the so-called common wart can infect pretty much anywhere, but the others are quite specific in the types of skin cells they can infect. They all generally require an area of broken skin to get in, though, so hopefully she’s safe.

    What prompted me to de-lurk, however, was the Society and culture section of the article, in which we find this:

    A variety of traditional folk remedies and rituals claim to be able to remove warts. […]

    In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain has his characters discuss a variety of such remedies. Tom Sawyer proposes “spunk-water” (or “stump-water”, the water collecting in the hollow of a tree stump) as a remedy for warts on the hand. You put your hand into the water at midnight and say:

    Barley-corn, barley-corn, injun-meal shorts,
    Spunk-water, spunk-water, swaller these warts

    and then “walk away quick, eleven steps, with your eyes shut, and then turn around three times and walk home without speaking to anybody. Because if you speak the charm’s busted.” This is held to be superior to Huckleberry Finn’s preferred remedy which involved throwing a dead cat into a graveyard.

    So very relieved there’s an alternative to the dead cat method! Didn’t say anything about the efficacy of licking the wart while bathing, though.

    I’m also rather surprised to find that at age 60, I can actually touch my lips to my feet, if necessary. I just can’t think of a reason I’d ever need to … y’know, aside from demonstrating my strangeness to Ben.

    Reply
    1. Rachel M Avatar
      Rachel M

      Well done on passing the licking the feet test! I hope I can still lick my feet at 60 🙂

      I wondered whether Elizabeth was displaying some kind of primal behaviour by licking her wounds, as animals do. I’m sure it won’t help remove the wart at all but I doubt her method is any better than Tom Sawyer’s.

      Reply
      1. Mukei Avatar
        Mukei

        Possibly many years of an almost daily meditation practice sitting in half-lotus has something to do with it?

  9. Denise Avatar
    Denise

    Hmm I am fairly flexible and I can’t. Maybe I will have to add this exercise as an extension to my morning workout.

    Reply
    1. Rachel M Avatar
      Rachel M

      Haha, I’m happy to hear I’ve given you a new challenge 🙂

      Reply
  10. Turning 40 | RachelSquirrel

    […] already know I can lick my feet which is definitely a sign of youthful vigour but it’s nice and reassuring to check up on […]

    Reply
  11. Erin Avatar
    Erin

    I’m 11 and I can do it

    Reply
  12. Gretta Avatar
    Gretta

    I’m 54 and I can just about still do it, which is quite good having had both hips arthroscoped due to arthritis. Sometimes I can’t manage either foot and sometimes just one, usually the left is easier for some reason.

    Reply
    1. Rachel M Avatar
      Rachel M

      Good for you! Keep it up because you know what they say – use it or lose it! Although I can’t see any benefits to licking your own foot haha

      Reply

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