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barefoot

 
Dictionary: bare·foot   (bâr'fʊt') pronunciation also bare·foot·ed
(-fʊt'ĭd)
adv. & adj.
With nothing on the feet: walking barefoot in the grass; a barefoot boy.


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Antonyms: barefoot
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adj

Definition: wearing no shoes
Antonyms: shod


WordNet: barefoot
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Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The adjective has one meaning:

Meaning #1: without shoes
  Synonyms: barefooted, shoeless


The adverb barefoot has one meaning:

Meaning #1: without shoes on
  Synonym: barefooted


Wikipedia: Barefoot
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Walking barefoot

Going barefoot (also barefooted) means for a person not to use, or to go without, any type of foot covering. It is traditional to go barefoot in many developing countries, but less common in industrialized countries due to greater societal taboos, fashions, or peer pressure against going barefoot. A barefooter is someone who prefers to go barefoot occasionally, often, or at all times. Calling oneself a barefooter implies that being barefoot is a voluntary choice (as opposed to, for example, not being able to afford shoes), or whenever use of footwear is decided to be unnecessary. Reasons for choosing to go barefoot include the sensation of one’s feet in direct contact with the ground, and to confirm many perceived spiritual or natural health benefits one may experience.

Contents

Religious and cultural aspects

Acts of devotion

Many religious traditions consider removing shoes as a pious gesture of humility, especially appropriate when approaching holy places.

Going barefoot is also a common form of mortification, often combined with others such as pilgrimage, either as penance or asceticism. Roman Catholic religious orders that permanently restrict the ability of members to wear footwear are known as "discalced", though in reference to certain religious orders the term means wearing only sandals on the feet. Barefoot orders include the barefoot Carmelites or Camaldolese and the Teresian.[citation needed] Many Pagans, Neopagans, and Native Americans go barefoot so as to feel connected to Mother Earth.

Regional traditions

It is more common to go barefoot in developing countries, but less common in industrialized countries due to greater availability of footwear and societal taboos against going barefoot.

In many cultures it is considered inappropriate, even rude, to wear shoes indoors. It may be acceptable to wear shoes in public places (e.g. museums or libraries), but people are usually expected to go barefoot, or wear socks, inside dwellings. This is usually true for countries where inclement weather is frequent, such as Japan, China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Norway, or Canada, and serves the purpose of minimizing the amount of dirt and mud brought in from the outside. The ceremony or ordeal of firewalking entails walking barefooted through fire, over a bed of embers, or over hot stones.

Sign of poverty or mourning

The tradition of bare feet denoting status dates to Roman times, when it was traditional for prosperous Roman citizens to wear elaborate clothing, including footwear, while slaves and lower-class citizens went barefoot. In Medieval times, leather shoes and boots were expensive, so poorer people often either went barefoot or wrapped their feet in cloth. In art and literature, bare feet often symbolize poverty. In Jewish tradition, shoes are not worn by mourners during the ritual Shiva mourning period. Just as "sack cloth and ashes" or even full nudity, it was also a sign of mourning in Antiquity.

Fashionably dressed young women near Glasgow, 1859, from Louis Énault, Angleterre, Écosse, Irlande: Voyage Pittoresque

Symbol of innocence

Bare feet also denote innocence in American literary tradition, commonly seen in work from the 18th and 19th centuries and epitomized in John Greenleaf Whittier's opening line "Barefoot boy with cheeks of tan".[2] Going barefoot was a standard part of childhood play, especially in rural areas, as was shown in the season 2 opening of The Waltons, (which was set in Virginia during the Great Depression in the show's early seasons) where a young Kami Cotler as Elizabeth Walton is shown in the very last scene barefoot.

It features prominently in the novels of Mark Twain. Barefoot children and young women are also common in the paintings and sketches of Norman Rockwell, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, and the artists affiliated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

Symbol of peace

One way to commemorate Mahatma Gandhi is to walk barefoot around his monument. Even Pope John Paul II and George W. Bush paid him this honor, as shoes are banned within Gandhi's memorial site, Raj Ghat.

Myths and urban legends

Throughout the years, a number of myths have been perpetuated about various regulations against bare feet. In the United States, many of these myths were perpetuated during the counterculture movement of the 1960s, as a way to keep hippies out of conventional business establishments.[3] This led to a belief by many in various nonexistent OSHA or local health department regulations preventing people from going to stores, restaurants, and other establishments without shoes (or a shirt, hence the common "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service" signs that are commonly posted in businesses). However, these regulations refer specifically to employees, not customers.[4] There are also no state health codes that ban customers from going barefoot in establishments, as is demonstrated by a project undertaken by The Society for Barefoot Living in 1997, and again in 2002.[5] Individual businesses, however, are free to refuse service to customers without footwear or clothing that they deem appropriate, and individual cities and towns may also require certain footwear in public places.

Another common myth is that it is illegal to operate a motor vehicle while barefoot. Some people speculate that, because you use your feet while driving, there's more room for error and your feet could slip off of the pedals, resulting in an accident.[6] In fact, in all 50 states and territories in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, it is perfectly legal to drive barefoot.[6][7][8] However, in some jurisdictions, police officers may ticket you for other things if the fact that you were driving barefoot or in flip flops hindered your driving and/or resulted in an accident.[9]

Health issues

Risks

Consistent practice, caution, and instinctive awareness are essential to safely going barefoot. Foot problems that can result from walking barefoot include cuts, abrasions, bruises, puncture wounds from foreign objects. They can also make you more vulnerable to skin issues or nail injuries.[10] Poisonous plants, animals, or parasites can enter the body through the cuts on an injured bare foot – footwear can be valuable in protecting them.[11] Hookworm larve, for instance, can easily burrow through a bare human foot[12] (but in temperate regions the chance of encountering hookworm is extremely low)[13]. In addition, individuals with diabetes or other conditions which affect sensation within the feet are at greater risk of injury while barefoot, so they must compensate safety with greater awareness of the ground's environment.[10]

Benefits

A 2006 study found that shoes may increase stresses on the knee and ankle, and suggested that adults with osteoarthritis may benefit from walking barefoot,[14] though more study is required to elucidate the factors that distribute loads in shod and barefoot walking. A 1992 correlational study also found that children who wore shoes were three times more likely to have flat feet than those who did not, and suggested that wearing shoes in early childhood can be detrimental to the longitudinal arch of the foot.[15] A 1991 review article found that barefoot walking supported optimum foot development, and the best use of shoes are to protect the foot from injury rather than for correction of problems.[11] Other doctors believe shoes have use in correcting mild deformities such as flat feet.[16]

See also

References

  1. ^ ""Put off the shoes from off they feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground (King James version, Exodus 3:5)
  2. ^ On-line text.
  3. ^ Miller, Joe (May 29, 2008). "Going barefoot". The News and Observer. http://www.newsobserver.com/105/story/1088537.html. Retrieved August 5, 2009. 
  4. ^ "Bare Feet and OSHA". www.barefooters.org. January 7, 2006. http://www.barefooters.org/osha.html. Retrieved August 5, 2009. 
  5. ^ "Health Department". www.barefooters.org. November 30, 2007. http://www.barefooters.org/health-dept/. Retrieved August 5, 2009. 
  6. ^ a b Lawson, Alex (September 6, 2007). "Legal myths, rumors about driving barefoot busted". The Daily Vidette. http://www.newsobserver.com/105/story/1088537.html. Retrieved August 5, 2009. 
  7. ^ "Q18: Is it legal to drive barefoot?". www.barefooters.org. July 13, 2004. http://www.barefooters.org/faq/18.html. Retrieved August 5, 2009. 
  8. ^ Hernandez, Salvador (April 25, 2008). "HONK: The myth about driving barefoot". The Orange County Register. http://www.ocregister.com/articles/driving-california-shoes-2027147-vehicle-barefoot. Retrieved August 5, 2009. 
  9. ^ McNerthney, Casey (July 19, 2008). "Answers for readers: Is it legal to drive barefoot or with flip-flops?". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattle911/archives/143892.asp. Retrieved August 5, 2009. 
  10. ^ a b "Common Myths That Harm Your Feet". Newsmax Media. July 15, 2008. http://www.newsmax.com/health/common_myths_feet/2008/07/15/112910.html. Retrieved August 4, 2009. 
  11. ^ a b Staheli LT (1991). "Shoes for children: a review". Pediatrics 88 (2): 371–5. PMID 1861942. 
  12. ^ "Hookworm Infection". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. September 11, 2008. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/hookworm/factsht_hookworm.htm. Retrieved August 4, 2009. 
  13. ^ What about hookworm? at Parents for Barefoot Children
  14. ^ Shakoor N, Block JA (2006). "Walking barefoot decreases loading on the lower extremity joints in knee osteoarthritis". Arthritis Rheum. 54 (9): 2923–7. doi:10.1002/art.22123. PMID 16947448. 
  15. ^ Rao UB, Joseph B (1992). "The influence of footwear on the prevalence of flat foot. A survey of 2300 children". The Journal of bone and joint surgery. British volume 74 (4): 525–7. PMID 1624509. 
  16. ^ Angier, Natalie (1991-08-14). "Which Shoes Are Best For Children? Maybe None". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEFDF1230F937A2575BC0A967958260. Retrieved 2007-10-19. 

Further reading

External links


Translations: Barefoot
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Dansk (Danish)
adj. - barfodet, barfods-, bare ben
adv. - barfodet, med bare ben

Nederlands (Dutch)
blootsvoets, ongeschoeid

Français (French)
adj. - aux pieds nus
adv. - nu-pieds

Deutsch (German)
adj. - barfuß
adv. - barfuß

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - ανυπόδητος, ξυπόλυτος, απετάλωτος
adv. - ξυπόλυτος

Italiano (Italian)
scalzo, a piedi nudi

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - descalço
adv. - sem sapatos

Русский (Russian)
босой, босиком

Español (Spanish)
adj. - descalzo
adv. - descalzo

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - barfota
adv. - barfotad

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
赤脚的, 不穿鞋袜的, 赤着脚地

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 赤腳的, 不穿鞋襪的
adv. - 赤著腳地

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 맨발의, 편자가 없는, 장부로 잇지 않은
adv. - 맨발로

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 裸足の
adv. - はだしで

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) حافي القدمين (ظرف) حافي‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮יחף‬
adv. - ‮יחף‬


 
 
Learn More
Nelipor (Walking barefoot)
discalced
Barefoot Pilgrim (finance term)

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Answers Corporation Antonyms. © 1999-2009 by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved.  Read more
WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Barefoot" Read more
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