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Ten Things You Maybe Didn't Know About the Foot

1. It's based on actual feet (kinda)

The foot measurement dates way back to when people used, well, feet to measure stuff. But don’t worry, it's not your size 10 vs. someone else's 7 — it eventually got standardized.

2. It's exactly 12 inches

No mystery here: 1 foot = 12 inches. It’s a nice, solid dozen. Why 12? Because ancient civilizations loved how easily it divides (2, 3, 4, 6). More options than, say, 10.

3. It's used mostly in the U.S.

The foot is still alive and kicking in the U.S., along with a few other countries (hi, Liberia and Myanmar!). But most of the world has gone full metric with metres and centimetres.

4. It's officially defined in metric

Wild, right? Since 1959, one foot has been defined as exactly 0.3048 metres. So even imperial units now bow to the metric system for precision.

5. It's still the go-to for human height

Ask most Americans how tall they are, and you’ll get something like "5 foot 10" — not "70 inches" or "1.78 metres." It's just how people talk height in the imperial world.

6. Construction loves it

Feet and inches rule the roost on job sites in the U.S. Buildings, blueprints, pipes, wood planks — all measured in feet. Try tossing millimetres into a hardware store conversation and watch the confusion.

7. Wasn't always the same everywhere

Different cultures used "feet" of different lengths. Roman feet, Greek feet, even different "feet" within medieval Europe. Standardization took centuries.

8. It's embedded in language

So many phrases come from the foot: "put your best foot forward," "foot the bill," "get off on the wrong foot," "feet of clay"... This unit is more culturally entrenched than you might expect.

9. Used in aviation too

Airplane altitudes? Always in feet. "We're cruising at 35,000 feet" is a standard line from pilots, even internationally. It's one of the few imperial holdouts in global systems.

10. It plays well with maps and sports

In U.S. maps, topographic lines and elevation markers often use feet. And in sports like football and basketball, field dimensions, player heights, and shot distances are all foot-friendly.