# Have you ever stepped on a 'goat's head'? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 2, 2016, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stepped-on-a-goats-head/758921 "2016-07-02T15:10:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stepped-on-a-goats-head/758921/1 "2016-07-02T15:10:09Z")
Have you ever stepped on [one of these](https://i.imgflip.com/121m58.jpg)? ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stepped-on-a-goats-head/758921/2 "2016-07-02T15:33:25Z")
No, but I don’t walk around barefoot. But I lived in a town in Kansas where a plant (probablyAcanthospermum hispidum) had somehow become naturalized, and they were a menace to bicyclists. In certain seasons, you couldn’t ride across town without puncturing a tire on one. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stepped-on-a-goats-head/758921/3 "2016-07-02T15:38:32Z")
No but my poor dogs have many times. I got to where I stopped running them anywhere these were common. ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stepped-on-a-goats-head/758921/4 "2016-07-02T15:42:18Z")
I’ve never seen those, but I’ve stepped on a hawthorn thorn. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stepped-on-a-goats-head/758921/5 "2016-07-02T15:44:48Z")
I stepped (barefoot) on these evil, evil thorns about a million times in childhood. ---
**Author:** ![CheshireKat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheshirekat/32/1207_2.png) [@CheshireKat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheshireKat)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stepped-on-a-goats-head/758921/6 "2016-07-02T15:46:57Z")
Yes, constantly when growing up in South Texas. Barefoot was bad, but even worse was trying to pick them off my shoelaces and socks. We just called them stickers. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stepped-on-a-goats-head/758921/7 "2016-07-02T16:17:34Z")
Never stepped on one of those, but I did get a jumping cactus pad stuck on the back of my hand when I was a kid. I also stepped on a board with a nail in it went right through my foot and out the top. ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stepped-on-a-goats-head/758921/8 "2016-07-02T16:20:46Z")
I’m not familiar with those, but we have something similar that grows near our coast. We call them sand spurs and, yes, i’ve had those bitches lodged in my feet. They even get wadded-up in your shoelaces when you wear shoes. ---
**Author:** ![CheshireKat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheshirekat/32/1207_2.png) [@CheshireKat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheshireKat)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stepped-on-a-goats-head/758921/9 "2016-07-02T16:34:05Z")
I finally recalled the other name we had for these - sticker burrs. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stepped-on-a-goats-head/758921/10 "2016-07-02T16:36:00Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > I stepped (barefoot) on these evil, evil thorns about a million times in childhood. Yep. Hate those things. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stepped-on-a-goats-head/758921/11 "2016-07-02T17:05:07Z")
F\*ck yes. Central Valley. And I’ve ridden a horse at speed through star thistle. Yes, I still have both legs and can walk, thanks for asking. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stepped-on-a-goats-head/758921/12 "2016-07-02T20:23:47Z")
Played a high school football game on a practice field that was solid goat heads. ( OKC area ) To a spectator, it must have been the funniest game they ever saw. To us players, it was the worst game of our lives by a country mile. Zeus manages to find some even here in the mountains of AR. But he has special abilities. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stepped-on-a-goats-head/758921/13 "2016-07-02T22:31:01Z")
> [@CheshireKat](#): > > Yes, constantly when growing up in South Texas. Barefoot was bad, but even worse was trying to pick them off my shoelaces and socks. We just called them stickers. Good golly, yes. I hate those things with a purple passion. Fortunately now that I’m a boring middle aged person, I don’t see too many anymore, but as a kid, they were the bane of my existence. ---
**Author:** ![OleOneEye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f14d63/32.png) [@OleOneEye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OleOneEye)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stepped-on-a-goats-head/758921/14 "2016-07-02T22:48:59Z")
Those fuckers are _hard_! I stepped on one somewhere in west Texas, and it pierced through the layers of my shoe to my foot. :eek: I kept the damn thing as a souvenir. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stepped-on-a-goats-head/758921/15 "2016-07-02T22:52:43Z")
Nope, but I’ve been swatted by [devil’s club](http://radiantheartmedicine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/devils_club2.jpg), which is everywhere in Alaska. Oh, and once while on safari, I wanted to see how sharp an acacia thorn was. Only took once to learn that lesson. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stepped-on-a-goats-head/758921/16 "2016-07-02T23:45:46Z")
Yes, had a childhood game based around it (well avoiding them). ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stepped-on-a-goats-head/758921/17 "2016-07-03T00:18:37Z")
Yep! They grow in southern California. They can go right through the sole of a kid’s (Keds) tennis shoe. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stepped-on-a-goats-head/758921/18 "2016-07-03T01:48:30Z")
Nature’s caltrops. Hate 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stepped-on-a-goats-head/758921/19 "2016-07-03T02:00:21Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > Nature’s caltrops. Hate 'em. Apparently there’s a ‘caltrop family’ of plants. I still remember how they’d stick in my zoriis and I’d poke myself getting them out. (Usually they weren’t long enough to go into my foot.) Not as bad as if I was barefoot though. Oh, the joys of desert living! ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stepped-on-a-goats-head/758921/20 "2016-07-03T02:23:53Z")
I still do, all the time. They come into the house on the soles of our shoes and then we find them with our bare feet. Hurts like hell. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stepped-on-a-goats-head/758921.md?page=2)