Friday, February 08, 2008

What a "Shod Foot" Is - The Term that Sent Millions Googling

Apparently countless people in the U.S. spent part of their work hours today Googling the term "shod foot," which came about because a University of Massachusetts lacrosse player was arrested in a brawl.

Although the brawl involved the use of lacrosse sticks, baseball bats, and bottles, Christian Haggerty was also charged with "aggravated assault and battery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (his shod foot) and breaking and entering during the night time," according to Sports Illustrated's Web site. So that sent folks everywhere Googling to see what a "shod foot" was. Well folks, a shod foot is simply a foot that is wearing a shoe. That's it.

"Shod" is defined in one version of the Merriam-Webster dictionary as "Past tense and a past participle of shoe." In other words, a horse that has had horseshoes put on its hooves is a shod horse. Now you don't hear the word "shod" used much regarding people, but hey, the law apparently uses it because, well, I guess because the law was written by lawyers and they like using complex and unusual language when a much simpler usage would be fine.

I'm not sure what made Haggerty's shod foot so deadly... maybe he was wearing steel-toed boots? Or maybe he is also the football team's place kicker? Whatever it is, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has decided his foot-and-shoe combination is a lethal weapon. Of course, if he was a martial arts practitioner, his bare foot could well be considered a deadly weapon.

So that explains all the "shod foot" Googling today. Now I just have to figure out why another one of the top searched-for words of today is "mons pubis" ...

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4 comments:

Unknown said...

The Kingston Reporter sent me to google "shod foot" as one of our upstanding residents was charged with "assault and batter with dangerous weapon (shod foot)" in the local Target store.

DGR008 said...

I used to use this code section when I was a probation officer in Virginia. It elevated a Misd. to a felony!
Common law is full of great crimes. I once was able to successfully charge someone for "polluting a navigable waterway aka throwing beer cans while drunk in a row boat. It was a stretch, but I was able to detain the little toad on the charge.

Ms. Mary said...

DGR008, clearly it's not the laws but the poorly trained chimps enforcing them, perfect example: "I once was able to successfully charge someone for "polluting a navigable waterway aka throwing beer cans while drunk in a row boat. It was a stretch, but I was able to detain the little toad on the charge" You're pathetic, and a serious detriment to our country. Officers like you are the #1 reason people don't respect the legitimate peace keepers. This is America, twisting laws and distorting facts to arrest people that you deem 'suspicious' (or more likely just pissed you off in some way) is supposed to be why we look down on countries like Russia and China. If there's no law to support detaining someone honestly, then YOU SHOULDN'T BE DETAINING THEM. PERIOD!!


FYI: Shod Foot is not just kicking someone with a shoe on, it refers to kicking someone when they're already on the ground trying to defend themselves or cowering.

Dave B said...

What if the offender attacking with a shod foot is, literally, a chimp? It's only a matter of time before our fellow primates discover the joys of quality footwear. Then they'll start writing code for Microsoft applications. After that, it's Katy bar the door.