A few days ago an acquaintance I hadn’t seen in years spotted me on the street and came over to say hello to me. He said he picked me out easily “because no one else walks like you do.”
So, apparently, I bounce or something when I walk. Anyone else have a walk that’s exceptionally out of the norm, or have any friends or family who do? Can people spot you coming a block away?
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I walk with a slightly turned-out foot from a tractor accident when I was a kid. I don’t think this causes me to have a strange gait, but I leave very distinctive footprints.
I know a father and son who walk exactly alike. I can’t describe how they’re different from anyone else, but if you watch them together, it’s uncanny.
Apparently I don’t swing my arms much when I walk. People say something about it all the time. And I bounce a little bit too.
My mom’s very nearsighted, and seldom wears her glasses. Twenty feet away, she can’t quite tell if you’re looking her in the eye. However, she can tell if someone she knows is comming walking, even way down the block. She can’t see their faces at that distance, just their body shapes, color, and movement. She says that she recognizes exactly the way all her family, freinds and co-workers walk. Some parts of our brains recognize faces, some parts recognize voices, and I suppose some part recognizes walks.
People often say I walk with a limp even though there is nothing wrong with my feet or legs. So yeah, I have an unusual gait.
I do. When I was in grad school a guy who was in my creative writing class in high school (800 miles away) recognized me by my walk. I think it is bouncy, but I’m not sure why it’s distinctive.
[QUOTE=Voyager]
I do. When I was in grad school a guy who was in my creative writing class in high school (800 miles away) recognized me by my walk.QUOTE]
Wow, that guy’s amazing. I can’t see anything at 800 miles.
Arrg, you beat me to it! 
One of my mates walks with that strange skipping, heel-lifting gait, as if he has a tack in his shoe; at the same time, he looks as if he is going down a steep incline. (This gait seems to be very prevalent - any idea why?) Another swings his arms as if he is carrying around his waist an imaginary hoop about four feet in diameter which he rotates about a quarter turn every stride. I am not sure how I walk, never having seen myself, but I usually have my head down, looking at the pavement about two feet in front of me. We must look quite a sight when we’re out together!
I walk with my toes pointed up thanks to four years in the marching band.
Last year, a girl I knew in high school (15 years ago) recognized me from behind because I had “phouka hair”. As far as I know, I had a completely different hairstyle, but “phouka hair” it is.
I read an article once on how to disappear into a new life.
It claimed that disappearees who get spotted in public by people from their old life are invariably recognized by their walk: people have to get much closer to you to recognize your face, but your walk is noticeable from a long way off. The article recommended altering one’s walk, by, e.g., by putting an insert in one shoe.
I have been told I have a distinctive walk. I’ve had people who haven’t seen me in years notice me from down the block or across the street.
One friend (a fiction writer) in my home town spotted me when I was unexpectedly visiting. He said I have a military bent to my walk (I was never in the military, but work for the military), but with more head-bobbing. He likened it to the way Elvis Presley walked after getting out of the Army. I told him, “Thank you, I think”.
My first boyfriend had a distinctive gait. I haven’t seen him in 30 years, but I’m willing to bet I could pick him out to this day.
I’ve got a coworker who seems to walk on his toes, which gives him a strange, bouncy step. That and the fact that he’s very tall make him easy to identify from a distance.
::shudder:: For a second there I thought I had a kid I didn’t know about… I’m the exact same way.
Apparently my walk changes according to mood; at one point over the summer I was escorting one of our residents to ISS, and when I got back several staff asked me what the child had done to warrant my “angry walk.” I was all 
… I hadn’t been particularly angry, just… intent on getting the kid dropped off as quickly as possible. So I went home and asked Mr. Kitty if I had an angry walk. His response: “Well, fuck yeah! Where have you been? I call it the ‘mad bunny stomp.’” :eek: :wally
So apparently I have an angry walk, though none of the coworkers could elaborate on exactly what that meant.
Hmm, very interesting…
:: sticks four wads of cotton into left shoe, walks off into the crowded streets of São Paulo and disappears ::
I have also been flagged down by long lost friends due to my distinctive walk. Apparently I walk like I’m on my way to deliver a serious beating and in a major hurry to do so. I assure you I’m completely harmless 
I have been told that I do, and it’s probably true since I tend to wear down the soles of my shoes asymmetrically – the outer portion of the right heel wears down quicker than the left one. I attribute this to the fact that my right foot was somewhat misaligned at birth. It was treated with the technology available at the time, so now both my feet fact forward. However, now my right knee points inward.
A long time ago, I was walking down an empty hallway after classes at the school where I taught, and at the corner I met the janitor. He said, “I thought that was you.” He said he recognized the distinctive sound of my footsteps.
There was a Captain that recently PCSed from here who had an unusual walk. By “unusual” I mean absolutely perfect posture. Straight line from the top of his head all the way down his torso. Kind of like he always had a stick in his ass.
What’s more, he ran the same way. I don’t know how you run like you have a stick up your ass, but he did it.
I’ve been told I have a strange walk. My teachers always knew if I was coming to see them in their office, even when I dropped in unexpectedly, just by the sound of my footsteps. Apparently, it was an in-joke among some of them, though they were never mean about it, they just found it amusing.
I can’t walk in a straight line. I randomly trip slightly, right myself, and continue my stride. I “meander”. There is no rhyme, reason, or rhythm to my steps - my pace changes often, ranging from casual stride to quick trot. Sometimes I run. People laugh *really hard * when I run. My husband lovingly says it’s got a touch of “Phoebe Buffay” in it. I don’t run very often because of this. :o
It’s somewhat subtle, however, and doesn’t occur in a strange, jerky, unnatural way. I can walk out in public and not get a sideways glance, to be sure. But to anyone who’s paid attention at some point, they quickly realise I have a “funny” gait.
I don’t know why. It’s just the way it’s always been. My mother complains about it. I tried walking about with a book on my head for a while, hoping to fix it, but it just annoyed me and unnecessarily abused the books that fell off of my head. So I gave up. Now if someone points out that they just realised I walk kind of funny, I break into a short soft-shoe, then continue walking.
Apparently, I walk like I have a penis.
swaggers off