Thursday, September 24, 2009

y is a crooked letter

y is a crooked letter
If you've read this blog for any length of time, you're probably all-too-aware that I'm cursed with tiny, yet exceptionally wide and curiously flipper-shaped feet. As in: size 4 1/2 and quadruple (or, who knows, maybe quintuple) E. As in: the only shoes that even come close to fitting me are designed for ten-year-old boys. As in: they might possibly pass for cute if they were attached to a penguin. On the bright side, though, I have pretty good balance.

So, stealing the idea from Calliope, tell us what size your feet are (And I promise I won't be jealous when I realize that they're all far less mutant-looking than mine. Because (sigh) I'm used to it. Really I am.) And do you love or hate buying shoes?


eta: If you're not from North America, check out this handy international shoe size conversion chart. (you'll need to scroll down the page a bit to find the chart) My shoe size, you will note, does not appear on this chart. Why am I not surprised?

62 comments:

Unknown said...

In women's sizes, 10-11 and on the narrow side. My boyfriend finds it hilarious that we can wear the same size men's shoe. I do not share his enthusiasm.

EmmaL said...

Women's size 11 which surprisingly can be hard to find. I hate shopping for shoes. My feet however are deformed (bunions) and wearing shoes pretty much hurts. I'm a flip flop kind of person. I just had surgery to fix one of my feet so hopefully wearing shoes will be easier!

LawMommy said...

My feet are (allegedly) 7 1/2 WIDES. BUT, problematically, I have narrow heels and fat (um, what is the front part of the foot called?) - fat fronts. So, I have to buy the 7 1/2 wides and then buy inserts for the back of the shoe so they don't slide on and off while I walk...frustrating.

Before Gabriel was born, I was a 6 1/2 Narrow...

Anonymous said...

My feet , shall we say, expanded during pregnancy a size and a half so now none of my old shoes fit. I now where 39-40 (9-9.5). Good thing I like to buy me some shoes! My 3.5 year old son also has a shoe fettish.
allypally

Anonymous said...

My shoe size is 9.5 and average width. I despise shoe shopping as I have never found a pair of shoes that didn't give me blisters. I own three pairs of shoes - loafers, sandals and sneakers - and I replace them every three years.

Kori said...

I wear a five, or sometimes a size six if I am buying boots. Which means I can actually fit onto girls size 4.5. I love to shoe shop. Not the obsessive I have ten pairs of black high heels that always look the same kind of way, but in the definite I have strong opinions, I like GOOD shoes, so therefore will save up for months to buy a particular shoe that I love. I love my feet.

Hennifer said...

My shoe size seems to be exactly somewhere around 10 1/4 and buying shoes sucks. I've learned to enjoy it a bit more now that I've discovered Zap.pos but still...

I think I suffer from the similar issue of really still skinny ankles and heels but wider arches so I'm a fan of Mary Janes.

I sometimes buy wide for comfort but can get away with 10 regular in well made shoes.

Anonymous said...

Size 10/10.5, narrow. Long and lean! I wish I could say they same about my body....it's long, but not quite so lean as of late.

Aurelia said...

Size 7.5, average width, unless it's hot out and then they are wider. No idea why.

But regardless of what I wear, or what season it is, my feet are ALWAYS freezing.

loribeth said...

I have very wide feet too (runs in my dad's family). I'm an 8 or 8.5 depending on the shoe. Sometimes I have to go up a size to accommodate the width. And sometimes the style of the shoe is such that I can barely get my toes into it.

Whenever I find a pair of shoes that do fit me comfortably, I tend to buy a pair in every colour they have! -- I love PayLess Shoe Source, because they carry wide widths. I also have a lot of Rockport shoes & sandals.

Anonymous said...

Since having kids and hitting my 40's, size 9.5. Skinny feet with high arches. I recall a friend in high school saying I have "spoon toes" because my big toes are perfectly oval like tablespoons.

I don't love shoe shopping.

Tash said...

I also have little square feet! 6.5-7, but WIDE. I wear women's, but can wear boys in sports and running (which saves $). Hate shoe shopping. Then again, hate most shopping.

Magpie said...

Well, they used to be a 10, but now they're an 11, thank you very much. And I hate shoe shopping, because it is impossible to buy shoes on sale in that size. And I only want comfortable shoes. But Merrell's make my feet stink. I prefer shoes with real leather insoles, which are very hard to find.

It's a good thing I can go barefoot in my office most of the time.

areyoukiddingme said...

I wear a size 7 medium. I told you I was boring.

I love shopping for shoes, but I rarely buy any. I desperately need new running shoes, too.

hudson6803 said...

Hmm. I am a 7.25. I usually buy a 7 and let my toes smash a bit. Better than being way too wide & a tad too long.

leanne said...

I wear a 7.5. I like looking at shoes, but I don't like shopping for them. It's that elusive comfort factor that shoe manufacturers seem to have ignored.

jill said...

4.5?! My goodness you do have tiny feet :)

I'm usually right around an 8.5 wide but that could vary up or down depending on style. The ones I'm wearing right now are just an 8M.

I love shoe shopping but I get discouraged because I have a hard time finding ones I like.

Anonymous said...

I'm a 6 or 6.5, depending on the shoe. I used to love my feet and shopping for shoes, but after having my son, not so much.

Calliope said...

I adore you and your feet. We are foot soldiers on opposite ends of the spectrum. I am a solid lady's 13. woo!

Sarah said...

I went from 7-7.5 to 7.5-8 after the kiddos. A definite widening in the ball? is it? which annoys! I found Ryka (uh, should I say that here?) athletic shoes are really designed to fit women's feet and manage the narrow heel/wide ball thing very well! And my feet are sort of annoyingly cute. Annoying to my gfs who don't like their feet, anyway.

GeekByMarriage said...

I'm n 8 1/2. I actually lost half a shoe size after I had my kids. I'm a freak of nature it seems.

I have very narrow feet and I hate shopping for shoes. I cannot wear shoes that don't have at least a strap over the of of my foot or the shoes fly off.

I never owned more than 3 pair of shoes at a time.

still life angie said...

I am also among the tribe of large-dogged women. I wear 10-10.5. If there are so many of us, why are there such few choices?

LadyofAvalon56 said...

9.5 to 10..but I have very narrow heels and the balls of my feet are regular.

Yanicka said...

I wear 6.5 or 7 size shoes and a love shoes..... love them!!!! Would love to pay big $$$$ for those designer shoes!!!! Sadly life do not allow that.

Jus and Kat said...

Size 6, and yes, I adore shoe shopping (when I can afford to, that is)!!

Kat

erica said...

9.5-10 for these feet. My right foot is bigger than my left and my feet are on the wider side of "normal" which means wide shoes are usually too wide and regular shoes often too narrow.

Caro said...

Your converter says 6-6.5. I have very narrow heels though so I have trouble getting shoes that don't rip them to shreds because they slip out as I walk.

Life in Eden said...

I was 6-6.5 pre-children, now 6.5-7. My problem is that I have FLAT feet. Oh, and bunions, bad ones. So really I need orthodic inserts. Did you know they don't fit into much but sneakers? I hate shoe shopping for this reason. I can rarely wear any heels that are comfortable.

I think this makes me a good candidate for "What Not to Wear", don't you? Do you think Stacy and Clinton could design a wardrobe around sneakers and clunky shoes?

Kristin said...

I wear a size 7 1/2 (sometimes an 8 if the shoe is a bit narrow).

Melissa said...

I'm a 7.5 or 8 depending on the shoe, like Kristin.

A nurse friend told me (and this was news to me) that when pregnant your feet don't actually grow, per se.

The foot, like the pelvis and other body joints relax and expand during pregnancy. The feet just don't recover fully sometimes. Thus, the growth.

Angela said...

7.5 or 8 depending on how the toe box is shaped

Cara said...

Before kids...8

After kids - 10.

See, the perks just keep on giving!!

Azaera said...

I'm a size 5, sometimes 6 depends on the shoe. And I too can get away with wearing kids shoes. I'm not a huge shoe person or much of a girly girl at all really. I have a pair of boots (Manitoban winters, lots of snow and freezing cold) a pair of runners and a pair of sandals.

Jackie said...

used to be a size 10, but after pregnancy, I'm now more a 9 to 9.5

My issue with shoes, is all the cute styles are smaller, and once you get into big size, they are markedly LESS then cute.

Eden Riley said...

I looked up that handy-dandy ahoes size converter ... to find Australia and the U.S. is the same in sizing!

I'm a size 10. And big wiiiiiiide feet. Like, two blocks of cement. My dad used to say "you have a good grip on the earth". And then he killed himself so lost HIS grip on the earth. Heh.

(I'm sorry, I don't know why I wrote that. But I think it's funny. WEIRDO)

Anonymous said...

yes. prior to two children/five pregnancies i was a seven normal everything-easily-fit width. now -- eight wide. yuck. in running shoes i think that'd be a nine wide. yuck yuck.

Maggie said...

7.5/8, although I was just fitted for running shoes last week and those are a 9.5...

JW Moxie said...

Ante el Cinco I wore an 8.5 wide. Post el Cinco, I now wear 9.5 wide(r), which is quite ducky considering that fact that I'm only 5'2". I hate shoe shopping because it's difficult to find shoes that I like in wide, and when I *do* find nice wide-width shoes, it seems like I can't find them in size 9.5. Sometimes I can get away with a 10 regular if I can't find a 9.5 wide.

Alexicographer said...

Women's size 9, oddly narrow in the heel and with an odd bone (or at protusion of a bone) on the outside of each ankle that makes some things oddly unwearable (or at least only very painfully wearable).

Given your description of your own feet I'd ask if you might actually be a hobbit, but I'm pretty sure no hobbit could have the sense of irony you possess. So you must just be weird ;-).

Anonymous said...

Pre-children I was a 6 regular. Post-children I am a 7 WIDE. With plantar faciitis. I favor LL Bean's mocs. They help with the pf and are available in wide.

Motel Manager said...

9/9.5 normal width. Yawn.

flutter said...

9 narrow.

Anonymous said...

Left foot is a 6.5 and right foot 7.5, YA I am odd ball of my family.

Anonymous said...

OH AND I HATE SHOE SHOPPING!

Jayme said...

9.5
Just into the transvestite section of Payless.

RP said...

Was a 9M before my first child. Am now pregnant with my second and am barely able to squeeze my hooves into a 10.5W.

Betty M said...

I'm a 7 US - wider post children than pre but no idea if wide enough to qualify as "wide" for US purposes.

Amelie said...

7.5 to 8, and in proper Birkenstock format. I used to hate shoe shopping, but it's not so bad any more. I just buy shoes when I like them, and then I wear them until they fall apart, because after all, it doesn't happen so often that I like them and they fit.

elizabeth said...

I wear anywhere from 9 to 10, depending on how pointy the toe is. I grew up mostly barefoot until I went to college - seriously, we went to school and to church barefoot too - I never had more than 2 pairs of shoes at once - because it was too hot in the Peruvian Amazon to wear shoes all the time. So my toes spread out and don't come to a point like people who grew up wearing closed-toed shoes all the time. The kicker (he he) is that because I'm a 5'7" Amazon - ok, that's only slightly above average in the US, but in the actual Amazon it's waaay above average - as a teenager I could NEVER find shoes my size in shops. One day while shoe shopping - I think for graduation - I got tired of asking "do you have this shoe in my size?" and getting a series of "no"s, I went into a shop and asked "do you have ANYTHING in a size 40?" and the clerk just - laughed. I ended up stuffing my feet into size 38s.

The strangest thing about my feet is that the third (middle) toe on each foot is the longest, not the second (next to big toe). My college boyfriend said I was "deformed." Nice.

Heather said...

I wear a 4, which means that I can also wear a girl's size 2. It comes in handy when buying cute flats and flip flops, but not when you're in three weddings in the same year and can't find stupid bridesmaid shoes anywhere near your size.

ME! said...

7.5 to 8....or 38 to 38.5

I just read your next post about why would you post anonymously on your shoe size. That is hysterical. ?? I don't know?

Anonymous said...

Well I hate shopping for most things and shoes are no different. But at my house is my husbands shoes that are the worst to shop for. You see while Im a 10 ladies he is a 16 (mens). He has HUGE feet. Yes I will admit he is 6 foot 8. I tell him his feet are 'boats'. I would love a photo with your feet next to my husbands!!!

Hugs
xxx

Anonymous said...

15 years ago, 40lb ago, and 2.5 kids ago, I was a 5.5. After the last sprog, I might be a 7.5; all I know is my favorite shoes are too short. When looking for shoes, lots of styles in my size are right out - I have tall feet and pressure on the top of my feet makes my feet, legs, and back hurt.

Trish said...

7.5-8. I was closer to a 7 before children, but now the 8s really fit better. I think that being heavier made my arches fall some. That is the only explanation that I can think of.

K @ ourboxofrain said...

8. I grew up wearing 8s, but all of a sudden found myself in 7.5s after college. Post-Harry, back to an 8. I have high arches/tall bridges, so most styles don't really work, though, regardless of size.

painted maypole said...

8 1/2, narrow if I can get 'em. rather small feet for my height (5'10")

S said...

7.5 pre-kids, 8 post-kids. at 5'4" i suppose i have fairly large feet.

Emily said...

Firstly, I don't like feet. I don't know why. I realize I have feet and no my own feet do not bother me. I don't think it's funny when people in my life find out that I don't like feet and then proceed to wipe their toes on me while sitting next to me on the couch, etc... Not funny.

I wear a size 6 shoe. Also, my ring size is 6, as is my dress size. This makes anniversary/birthday shopping easy for the husband...or it should.

Hope Springs said...

I'm a 9 wide in US sizes. It's really difficult to get wide fittings here in the UK - most shops don't stock them as standard, and I buy most of my shoes on my annual visit to the US.

When I was looking for some nice shoes for my brother's wedding a few years ago, I ended up stomping round the town centre muttering in increasing frustration, "if I ever have daughters, I'm going to bind their feet". Do you think that's why the universe won't let me have a daughter...?

Gal said...

7.5. I hate buying and wearing shoes, which is why I wish I lived on a beach and never had to. My feet are kind of wide, and my toes like to stretch with space in between (yoga toes)... shoes just make them feel crammed in. They don't like that. And they (I) hate heels. Never wear them.

Which Box said...

I've been away and am catching up!

And this is my confession - I have over 100 pairs of shoes,probably closing in on 125, though scared to count. Shoes make you feel ok when your body is changing so many sizes, you know? though my feet are also wide, so there are some styles that don't work. Usually a 7.5 or an 8. I was petrified during pregnancies that my feet would stretch and I'd have to get rid of a lot of shoes.

Jana said...

5-5.5 and I typically love buying designer shoes, because they're always trying to get rid of the tiny ones on clearance at SAKS more quick (and my feet are narrow).

I decided that being infertile on Yom Kippur allowed me to eat a little bit as my pregnant SIL got to eat all she wanted...in front of me.