What My Grandpa Thinks about Bare Legs in Winter

woman walking in sheer pantyhose in the snow

Freezing my feet off in cold weather is a dangerous thing for me.  I know, if I prance around in some fancy summer heels and light pantyhose in winter, next day I’ll be down with some serious health problems in the private sector that may linger for a long time afterwards.

How do I know this if I never tried it?  Well, that’s what I’ve been told over and over when I was growing up by my Grandma.  As a child, I would come back from a walk outdoors in winter, she would take off my shoes and feel my feet.  If my feet were cold, she would panic.  She passed away last year and I miss her dearly, we were very close.

I called up my grandfather and decided to ask him about this.

 

Me: Grandpa, women here go with bare legs in winter. 

Grandpa: When I was little, we had neighbours who went practically barefoot.  They had a large family and no money to buy clothing.

Me: Well, the women here simply don’t want to bother to wear pantyhose.  I see them in dresses and bare legs on the subway.

Grandpa: I also recently saw a homeless guy in the subway with pants that had holes in them.  Really, these days people throw clothes in the dumpster.  Can’t he find pants without holes there? 

Me: Look, the women here just don’t want to wear anything on their legs.  They don’t think that it can affect their health.

Grandpa: Oh, common, they have plenty of clothes in North America!  Why would they go bare-legged if there is plenty of clothing?

 ***

No matter how I tried to explain that these women are making a conscious choice to go with bare legs, my grandpa couldn’t grasp this bizarre idea.  To him poverty was the only explanation to bare legs in cold weather.

 ***

Me: Grandpa, I remember Grandma used to tell me to keep my legs warm, especially everything below the knee.  She told me that if the feet get chilled, it will lead to gynaecological problems.

Grandpa: Not only!  It’s bad for both men and women.  Grandma knew everything about that.

Me: How do you know this?  Did you read this somewhere or is this some kind of wisdom passed down from the ancestors? 

Grandpa: It’s common knowledge that areas on your feet correspond to your other bodyparts like liver, kidneys, and so on.  Don’t you have Vietnamese people there in Vancouver?  Ask them, their Eastern Medicine is progressive.

 

There is a notion in some parts of Europe and some parts of Asia about the concept of feet being connected to other forms in a person’s body.  I guess that what you consider this to be depends on where you reside.

If you are North American, you may think of this as nonsense.  If you are in a place like Hungary, let’s say, you may think of this as common truth that everyone knows.

Thus, if you are from the States or Canada, just forget everything you read above.

Go ahead, start your day, but please wear your pantyhose anyway!

sheer pantyhose on the street with high heels

8 thoughts on “What My Grandpa Thinks about Bare Legs in Winter

  1. Great article about you and your grandfather’s conversations. You were raised right by your grandparents even telling you to cover those legs and feet when it gets cold especially in winter.

  2. I think the thing with women here in the U.S. and in Canada is that there is this notion that pantyhose is for “older women.” Basically, the younger women, in other words younger than 50, think that pantyhose is too difficult to put on, or it can cause circulation problems, or it just doesn’t look good. Sometimes, they do wear some opaques or tights to go with certain outfits, but they’d rather go bare-legged if necessary. It’s all fashion. However, if they’d follow the Duchess of Cambridge (nee Kate Middleton), they’d be wearing hose all the time like she does. (However, soon she’d have to wear a maternity model.)

    • Good point! If you ask American doctors, they will tell you that there is no correlation between feet and gynaecology, etc. This is why people on this continent are confident that freezing off their feet won’t cause them to be down with a bladder infection next day.

      Maybe Kate has to wear pantyhose because of where she lives. You see, hosiery is British etiquette. How can she go against it? But since US is no longer under British influence, they don’t have to.

  3. The diagram is a bit radical for western thought; at least here on the “other” continent. But one thing is a known fact – that there are proven health benefits to pantyhose wearing, regardless of sex. Stock up, guys! 🙂

  4. Here in Ottawa, where the weather has been cold for the last few days with yesterday’s temperature at -11oC with the windchill close to -20oC, I saw a young woman on the bus wearing a short skirt above her mid-thighs and was bare-legged in black high heels with her legs looking red like a tomato. I can’t understand why she cannot protect her legs by wearing hosiery. To me, woman is not just being fashionable or stylish, she is just being dumb and stupid to realize what the weather is and the health risks such as hypothermia and frostbite involved in going bare legged in sub zero winter temperatures with the windchill factor.

  5. Being 39 yrs old I can say that I am not a fan of bare legs, no matter the time spent in the bathtub/shower shaving/pretty’ing them up. There are a number of things that say “i care about myself”, one being a pair of legs donned in a nice set of hosiery. In the summer I could say this isn’t such an issue but winter/fall and even evenings out or just wanting to look sexy…. Hosiery is and always will be a staple to the degree that taking the time to appear attractive for someone was in the back of the woman’s mind.

    Not to mention, they feel wonderful. I rub my wife’s legs when she’s wearing hose all night long watching movies or just sitting talking. And to Brian (Even though it’s over a year old) I agree, that girl is just…. not very in tune with anything I don’t think.

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