# There's a pen on the ground. Can you pick it up with your feet/toes? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 6, 2012, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-pen-on-the-ground-can-you-pick-it-up-with-your-feet-toes/617968 "2012-04-06T02:18:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-pen-on-the-ground-can-you-pick-it-up-with-your-feet-toes/617968/21 "2012-04-06T09:22:10Z")
I could pick it up, but I don’t, because who knows where it’s been? ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-pen-on-the-ground-can-you-pick-it-up-with-your-feet-toes/617968/22 "2012-04-06T10:05:21Z")
> [@Silver\_Tyger](#): > > My mom has little stumpy toes and refuses to admit that they’re deformed. She can barely even bend them. It’s sad really. I actually have very short little stumpy toes that I can barely even bend, but I am still quite adept at picking stuff up with them. I can spread and push together my toes with some pretty impressive force, for toes. I can pinch you something fierce with my toes! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-pen-on-the-ground-can-you-pick-it-up-with-your-feet-toes/617968/23 "2012-04-06T10:08:02Z")
Yep. Mom was paranoid about flat feet (her mom has 'em) so every day when I was a kid I had to pick up marbles with my toes and transfer them from the floor to a coffee can to develop my arches. I now have ridiculously high arches, which makes mules impossible to wear. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-pen-on-the-ground-can-you-pick-it-up-with-your-feet-toes/617968/24 "2012-04-06T10:56:11Z")
Just tested it. I can. _With socks on._ ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-pen-on-the-ground-can-you-pick-it-up-with-your-feet-toes/617968/25 "2012-04-06T11:50:46Z")
I routinely use my feet to pick my clothes up off of the floor after a shower. For most objects, I’m able to grasp them with my toes and _toss_ them up to hand-height. I can toss them elsewhere (e.g. 10 feet away to my wife) with some degree of accuracy. ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-pen-on-the-ground-can-you-pick-it-up-with-your-feet-toes/617968/26 "2012-04-06T13:02:26Z")
I’m barefoot or in toe-shoes 70% of time, I can pick up things very easily with my feet ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-pen-on-the-ground-can-you-pick-it-up-with-your-feet-toes/617968/27 "2012-04-06T13:17:18Z")
I often wear sandals with velcro straps- partly because I can put them on, and fasten the straps, entirely with my toes. Gets a bit clumsy for the last bit, but with my current back problems, it’s rather useful. I also can move my little toes completely independantly, and can pick up some stuff with them. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-pen-on-the-ground-can-you-pick-it-up-with-your-feet-toes/617968/28 "2012-04-06T13:18:33Z")
I once - on a bet, not as part of my normal activities of daily living - shelled and ate a peanut with my feet. Well, to be precise, I ate the peanut with my mouth, but I shelled it and picked up the nut, pulled my foot up to my mouth and dropped the peanut in. ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-pen-on-the-ground-can-you-pick-it-up-with-your-feet-toes/617968/29 "2012-04-06T14:15:46Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > I once - on a bet, not as part of my normal activities of daily living - shelled and ate a peanut with my feet. > > Well, to be precise, I ate the peanut with my mouth, but I shelled it and picked up the nut, pulled my foot up to my mouth and dropped the peanut in. You totally should do this with a banana. And post a video for us, of course. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-pen-on-the-ground-can-you-pick-it-up-with-your-feet-toes/617968/30 "2012-04-06T14:28:07Z")
I’m a fat person and have been my whole life. We spend a lot of time honing skills to keep us from having to bend over. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-pen-on-the-ground-can-you-pick-it-up-with-your-feet-toes/617968/31 "2012-04-06T14:30:40Z")
I’m really the only non-monkey on the board? My wife is an expert at monkeying things with her feet, but I can’t do anything other than walk with 'em. Joe ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-pen-on-the-ground-can-you-pick-it-up-with-your-feet-toes/617968/32 "2012-04-06T14:57:47Z")
Short stubby toes, have picked things up with 'em my whole life. I, too, can give you a nasty pinch with my toes. Once, on a bet (of course), I lit a cigarette with a paper-matchbook match, using my toes. (Wish I was that limber these days!) And I have the flattest feet imaginable, so I don’t think that’s connected. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-pen-on-the-ground-can-you-pick-it-up-with-your-feet-toes/617968/33 "2012-04-06T16:35:32Z")
I don’t know if I can because I’ve never tried, because using toes as fingers sort of freaks me out. I don’t like feet- even my own- and I find the whole idea kind of gross. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-pen-on-the-ground-can-you-pick-it-up-with-your-feet-toes/617968/34 "2012-04-06T16:44:44Z")
I just had to try it to find out: yes, I can, but doing so has never occurred to me before as far as I can remember. It seems like the effort involved in bringing your foot up to your hand is greater than the effort to bend over to pick something up, so I’m surprised at the popularity of this activity. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-pen-on-the-ground-can-you-pick-it-up-with-your-feet-toes/617968/35 "2012-04-06T16:54:25Z")
Pick it up? bah child’s play. As long as something has decent mass(ie. not lint or paper) I can rainbow toss it over my shoulder and into my hand, or throw it forward into a trash can. Unfortunately due to joint limitation It’s damn hard to throw it forward at more than a 30% trajectory so a backboard is nearly required, and the wall by the trashcan does end up scratched a bit. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-pen-on-the-ground-can-you-pick-it-up-with-your-feet-toes/617968/36 "2012-04-06T20:10:33Z")
I can write with my toes! I can also eat, brush my teeth… …play Heart & Soul on the piano. ---
**Author:** ![florez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9e5f3/32.png) [@florez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/florez)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-pen-on-the-ground-can-you-pick-it-up-with-your-feet-toes/617968/37 "2012-04-06T20:20:17Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I can write with my toes! I can also eat, brush my teeth… > > …play Heart & Soul on the piano. That is incredible!:eek:For real?:dubious: Amazing!🙂 ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-pen-on-the-ground-can-you-pick-it-up-with-your-feet-toes/617968/38 "2012-04-06T20:24:17Z")
I pick stuff up with my toes all the time. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-pen-on-the-ground-can-you-pick-it-up-with-your-feet-toes/617968/39 "2012-04-06T20:35:06Z")
> [@florez](#): > > For real? No. I can’t even put on lipstick with my supple teen breasts. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-pen-on-the-ground-can-you-pick-it-up-with-your-feet-toes/617968/40 "2012-04-06T23:53:39Z")
I can pick up a pen with my toes and can take off the cap, but can’t hold it well enough to write–I’ve tried it. One of my brothers has toes so long I’m certain he could play piano with them if he would only practice. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-pen-on-the-ground-can-you-pick-it-up-with-your-feet-toes/617968.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-pen-on-the-ground-can-you-pick-it-up-with-your-feet-toes/617968.md?page=3)