# What was going on with this woman's feet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 7, 2008, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-going-on-with-this-womans-feet/448385 "2008-05-07T02:08:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-going-on-with-this-womans-feet/448385/1 "2008-05-07T02:08:04Z")
On Sunday I was in line standing behind a woman - the line was long and slow so I was kind of glancing around and noticed something I found very odd. The woman was about 4’8" or 4’10 - very petite. I glanced down and she had ENORMOUS feet. She was wearing men’s shoes and I’m sure they were a men’s 11 or 12. Everything else about her appeared to be unremarkable (however, I certainly didn’t see her naked or anything). I suppose it’s possible that she drew the genetic short straw in terms of foot size (although I’m guessing she probably doesn’t fall over much), but those flippers really were note worthy in size. Based on her rather small stature I started to randomly speculate (in my head) that maybe she had been small as a child and give HGH to stimulate growth and it only worked on her feet. However, that is a hypothesis that I pulled out of my butt, and I’m curious. Are there any medical conditions or other conditions that would make such a small person have such massive feet? (And they weren’t just massive in relation to the rest of her - I’m 5’8" and kind of slid one of my feet up just for comparision - I wear an 8 - and hers were about 3 inches bigger. ) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-going-on-with-this-womans-feet/448385/2 "2008-05-07T02:23:14Z")
My guess would be [peripheral edema](http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003104.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-going-on-with-this-womans-feet/448385/3 "2008-05-07T02:25:56Z")
You don’t know that her _feet_ were that large (unless these were very bizarre open-toed mens’ shoes); only that the shoes she was wearing were. Maybe she was in a rush and the only shoes she could find were her boyfriend’s, brother’s, father’s or somesuch. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-going-on-with-this-womans-feet/448385/4 "2008-05-07T02:33:44Z")
[Sometimes it’s just natural - Small girls with huge feet](http://themousepad.yuku.com/topic/17874/t/Small-girls-with-huge-feet.html) (the link is SFW but is a bit fetishy) ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-going-on-with-this-womans-feet/448385/5 "2008-05-07T02:43:18Z")
Maybe she was photoshopped[/too much time on the internet] ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-going-on-with-this-womans-feet/448385/6 "2008-05-07T02:47:05Z")
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.] You don’t know that her _feet_ were that large (unless these were very bizarre open-toed mens’ shoes); only that the shoes she was wearing were. Maybe she was in a rush and the only shoes she could find were her boyfriend’s, brother’s, father’s or somesuch. [/QUOTE] This was actually my first thought as well, but the line was **LOOOOONG** and I had a long time to check them out - it was her feet (I could see her toes in the end of the shoe and her heel in the back). And yes, I do know it’s odd that I was staring at this woman’s feet, but she was facing away from me and engaged in a conversation with her companion and I’m pretty sure she didn’t notice me. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-going-on-with-this-womans-feet/448385/7 "2008-05-07T02:48:32Z")
[QUOTE=kunilou] My guess would be [peripheral edema](http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003104.htm). [/QUOTE] Nah - I’ve seen this (my grandmother had it) and that’s not what it was. She may have had that as well, but the primary thing was very long, very big feet. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-going-on-with-this-womans-feet/448385/8 "2008-05-07T02:54:39Z")
A relative of Sideshow Bob’s, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-going-on-with-this-womans-feet/448385/9 "2008-05-07T03:01:43Z")
[QUOTE=kunilou] My guess would be [peripheral edema](http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003104.htm). [/QUOTE] My guess as well. With pregnancy, my feet have gone up a size in length, but the swelling is far, far more; so much that I had to buy special wide shoes with adjustable straps. True elephant feet. If I didn’t have the money for those shoes, I might have had to wear my husband’s shoes like this lady maybe had. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-going-on-with-this-womans-feet/448385/10 "2008-05-07T03:18:59Z")
Humm - this woman actually looked (and sounded!) a LOT like [Linda Hunt](http://www.nndb.com/people/671/000024599/) who apparently (according to Wikipedia) has Turner’s syndrom (single X chromosome) which can lead to short stature and lymphoedema (swelling of the hands and feet). So perhaps that’s it. I guess it’s also possible that she was just a small lady with huge feet. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-going-on-with-this-womans-feet/448385/11 "2008-05-07T05:49:00Z")
Hobbit?