Usage varies around the country, I’ve found. One of my students has observed that she is the opposite of pigeon-toed and is wondering what to call it. I said she was splay-footed.
What say Dopers?
Splay-footed I think means specifically walking on your insteps, with your ankles rolled too far. At least, I have had clients who needed corrective orthothics for this. It is possible to walk with your hips turned out so your toes point outward, but you don’t walk on your instep, and don’t stress your ankles or knees. My friends called it “dancer’s walk,” as in, ballet dancer, because they all walk that way because of the way they are trained to stretch their pelves for dancing. It’s called “turn-out,” but “turn-out” is a posture, not a type of walk.There’s probably a better term. If you want a parallel term for “pigeon”-toed, I vote for “duck”-footed, because duck feet turn out.
I never knew there was a name for it.
Your spoiler shows in the mouseover, BTW. There’s a way to code it so it doesn’t show, but I don’t know how to off the top of my head.
If anybody complains that I spoiled the ending, I’ll smack them with a haddock!
The opposite of pigeon-toed is duck-footed.
I remember my aunt saying that toes can be turned out from three places: the ankle, the knee, or the hip. Hip turn-out requires surgery to correct. Knee turn-out used to be fixed with that bar thing between kids’ legs; I don’t know if doctors still try to fix it or not. Ankle turn-out tends to correct itself as the child grows, though back in my day, they put babies in corrective shoes (I had them).
I said “splayed” before I saw the spoiler, so that’s one data point in agreement with you.
+1 for duck-footed.
It might be mostly regional but the dictionary acknowledges slew footed and that’s what it’s always been for me.
They use orthotic inserts in kids shoes instead of special shoes for ankle turn out, and it depends on how serious it is. If kids are walking on their instep, it has to be corrected. Also, I think that hip turn out can sometimes be corrected with the kind of harness that they use for dysplasia-- it depends on how serious it is. The last time I saw a kid with a bar was about 1990, but I did see a kid with jointed orthotics that went above the knee. I don’t know what they were for though, about six years ago.
Duck footed (and mine was bad enough when young to require corrective shoes)
met·a·tar·sus val·gus (met’ă-tahr’sŭs val’gŭs)
Fixed deformity in which the forepart of the foot is rotated on the long axis of the foot, so that the plantar surface faces away from the midline of the body, whereas the heel remains straight.
Synonym(s): duck walk, toeing out.
Add another. My wife and I were both duck-footed although mine was slightly “cured” after a couple accidental leg breaks.
I was always thought slew-footed was tripping from behind with your skate, in hockey.
Unfortunately I have a bit of a duck walk (gee thanks dad) - I’ve always called it a penguin walk.
Splay-footed.
One more for duck-footed.
Crow’s feet.
No, wait. Duck-footed.
Damn – now that I think of it I got both! :smack:
Pigeon-headed
The medical term for pigeon toe is “in-toeing”.
The opposite condition is “out-toeing”. Sometimes called Duck feet, or splay feet.
Bird brain ----- now why didn’t I think of that? :smack: