At long last; the formula to determine you shoe size

By MUNGAI KIHANYA

The Sunday Nation

Nairobi,

22 October 2006

Shoe sizes are probably the most complicated measurement system ever invented by Man. They don’t have a straightforward relationship to units of measure in common use (centimetres and inches), they have different values in different countries, and different sizes for women, men and children.

The only country in the world that uses a sensible shoe-size system is Korea. They simply measure the length of the foot in millimetres. This is also known as the “Mondopoint” or metric shoe size system. The rest of us have make things difficult for ourselves.

The next most sensible sizes are from mainland Europe (not including UK). It is also based on the length of the foot converted to a point system – the so called Paris Points. One point is equal to two-thirds of a centimetre. That is, the foot length (in cm) is two-thirds the shoe size.

Therefore, working in reverse, the shoe size is three-halves (i.e., one and a half times) of the foot length (in cm). For example, my foot is 27.3cm thus my size is 40.95 or 41. But of course that depends on the styling of the shoes so sometimes I ware 41 and other times 42.

The British system measures the size of the foot in barleycorns – an old unit of measure equivalent to one-third of an inch. It was actually supposed to be the average length of a corn of barley. The UK shoe size zero taken as the smallest foot possible, i.e., that of a baby and this is assumed to be 4 inches. (Any reader with a new born can help confirm whether this assumption is correct – write to me).

The first 13 barleycorns are for boys’ shoes and then the system starts again for men. Thus for boys, the shoe size is the length of the foot minus four inches and the result multiplied by 3. For example, my son’s foot is 6.5 inches long. His shoes are (6.5 – 4) x 3 = 2.5 x 3 = size 7.5.

After size 13 for boys, the British system starts again from 1 for “adults”. Thus the men’s size is equal to the foot length minus eight and a third (8.33) inches, and the result multiplied by three. For example, my foot is 10.75 inches (27.3cm). Therefore my UK size is (10.75-8.33) x 3 = 7.26 or 7.5.

Now, the story doesn’t end there. To get girls’ or women’s sizes, calculate the boys’ or men’s size as above then subtract a half. Thus a woman with the same size of foot as mine would ware size 7 UK. Finally, Americans like big numbers. So they add one (sometimes one and a half) to the equivalent UK size.