Long 2nd toe = ugly foot in my book. Never heard of Roman toes- but I have heard of Russian hands and Roman fingers.
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[SIZE=2]**That’s funny, because every foot fetishist or foot admirer i’ve ever come across (and yes youd be as surprised as i have been to realize jus how many there are in the world) has begged me to let them either rub, touch, kiss, photograph my feet, pedicure them… and some have even offered to pay me for worshipping time.
So Nya! 
I may have a goofy toe, and you may think they’re ugly, but the foot freakies always wanna lick em 
And one day i might have to take one up on the offer just so ill know what the big deal is, til then…
sticks up middle toe **[/SIZE]
Wow. Color me amazed. I just can’t believe people are into feet. Personally, I think they are the ugliest part of the body. How do you find these people? Or do they find you?
I’ve got a long second toe also, and it’s amazing how many people are freaked out by that. Seems normal enough to me.
Now if you want to talk about creepy, there’s a woman I know who has second toes that are SHORTER than her third toes. So she’s got a long big toe, and really short second toe, followed by the predictably long third toe. Now THAT’S creepy. I’m pretty sure it’s a sign of the devil. We’re planning an exorcism next week…
Gotta say, the length of my toes or general shape of my feet (other than intact) is just not something I’ve ever spent time on. Ugly? Weird? Royal? It’s like I’m living in a parallel universe where the only difference is that nobody’s ever commented on my feet.
People (usually men) into feet are not at all rare. What is rare is finding people who are open about this “fetish” (is it a fetish if it involves an actual body part, as opposed to inanimate matter?).
Technically, nope:
http://www.behavenet.com/capsules/disorders/fetishism.htm
I think people with long second toes have desirable trait A. And people with short second toes have desirable trait B.
At least, this is my guess at how the astrologers/soothsayers/fortunetellers/other crackpots would probably view it. Personally, I think desirable trait B is waaaay better than A. 
One disadvantage of having the 2nd toe longer than your big toe is that you won’t be able to put as much stress on the foot without sustaining some minor injury to the 2nd toe. The consequence of this is that you won’t be able to run as fast or as long as a person with “normal” toes.
Imagine a person running. At high enough speeds, only one foot is in contact with the ground at a time. You hit the ground with your heel, slap down the the rest of the foot and push. As you push off, your toes start getting off contanct with the ground. Ideally, the big toe should be the last part of the foot in contact immediately before take-off. However, if your 2nd toe is longer, then it might be the last one.
At least that’s how I remember how the whole bio-mechanics of the foot theory went…
I will check this out if I have time, but I have always attributed the “2nd toe is longer = good” bias to Roman times - hence the reference to Roman Toe. I seem to remember that Romans had very clear ideals of beauty, no doubt tied to classically Roman genetics and traits - the toe, an aquiline nose, stout strong legs, etc. - the big difference vs. other cultures that advanced their ideal of beauty being that the Roman Empire was hugely influential on vast swaths of geography for darn near 1,000 years and even to this day…
This link doesn’t speak to royalty, but offers the most complete history of Middle Eastern-to-Western art and the depiction of feet therein. Apparently, Roman Toe is a variant of Greek Toe - those darn Romans copied the Greeks in everything! snicker
For foot fetishists, who knows? this link may not be work safe! For the rest of us - knock yourself out!!
Mine look like the JPEG posted by astro, and I can do the grasping and heavy-lifting thing with it, too.
Girlfriend describes me as “footiedextrous”
I initially read that as “But on my THIRD foot…”
Do you mean barefoot, or even with running shoes? I’ve been a long distance runner since high school and have never had any injures related to foot shape. My atheltic performance has pretty much been on par with the differently footed around me, and is as far as I can tell limited only to the time and intensity of training, same as anyone else.
I don’t have a long 2nd toe, but I can still open a beer can with my feet and a key for leverage. I wouldn’t want to drink it though…
As an aside, If it bothers you enough, you can have cosmetic surgery to shorten your second toe and/or lengthen your big toe to relieve yourself and others from having to suffer through the ghastly sight of having a longer second toe.
It does not begin to approach coming anywhere approximating close to bothering me enough.