Japan, land of hentai, giant robots, and quite possibly the only shoe measurement that makes remotely any sense.

Aug 19, 2026 7:47 PM

Metric system

1 week ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Global measurements are hard, that god for UnitConversionBot

1 week ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 1

1 week ago | Likes 10 Dislikes 0

Fuck yeah, barley corns!

1 week ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

in practice since Japanese brands also use the same lasts as Western brands though all of this is just a linear conversion and sizes differ between brands still.

1 week ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

Ya the US's shoe size "standards" are just another example of the US being almost the same as the UK but deciding to be a bit different out of spite and misogyny.

1 week ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

As much as I hate to say it, in Canada we go by the US Size and I'm good with that. I know I wear 11-11.5 (sometimes 12 in certain shoes).

Then the issue becomes how each shoe isn't a true 11, some are, some aren't and then you have to make a list of the brand and the sizing issues. Nothing is ever easy.

1 week ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

I like getting a size larger because I hate the squished toe thing, so even if my foot is X size, I don't get X size
Gonna make that guy even more mad

1 week ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Measuring by the last seems like a totally reasonable thing, since it effectively translates to measuring the internal length of the shoe. Perhaps it's less accessible to the purchaser, but it also means that two shoes of the same size should theoretically fit the same. There's an argument to be made that a measurement based on the size of the foot also means the shoemaker has to decide how tightly or loosely that shoe fits.

1 week ago | Likes 16 Dislikes 1

Theoretically. We use what I assume is the same as France's system and my sizes still vary between 40 and 42.
Shoes just aren't an exact science.

1 week ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Good lord, I never thought about why our shoe sizes are what they are - I had no idea it was as crazy as this!

1 week ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

I knkw my mondo size, because I buy ski boots. Shoes, who the fuck knows, sizes and shapes vary so much between companies

1 week ago | Likes 31 Dislikes 1

My boots in the military were mm-sized. Still too small.

1 week ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

on the one hand, having to go up or down a size or two to find a shoe halfway the correct length from a different brand than your usual one, which then might still be too wide or narrow for your foot, feels super idiotic...on the other hand, the different shapes of shoes by different brands at least allow for people to eventually find actually almost properly fitting shoes once they figured out which brand is the correct one for their feet...

1 week ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Then you also know your size in Japan.

1 week ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

A bunch of shoes have multiple sizes, so if you're normal you just go by foot length in millimeters or centimeters.

1 week ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Speaking of sizes; after walking around the town where I live, I found out that only ONE size exists when it comes to caps. Yes, because everyone is created exactly the same /s

1 week ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Good luck if you have EEE or wider feet

1 week ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

No mention of breadth I notice. It's a really clear difference between Adidas and Puma boots - Adidas were always too narrow for me at any kind of correct length but Puma's fitted much better across the breadth.

1 week ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I buy shoes from all over the world. There’s actually even more size systems than mentioned, including some that are unique to particular BRANDS.🤦🏾‍♂️

1 week ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

You know what this post needs???

1 week ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

1 week ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

I miss Waffles & Pancakes it was such a fun web comic.

1 week ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

After listening to the international insanity presented.

1 week ago | Likes 149 Dislikes 3

I reference this clip often at work, "I'm so tired of this BS I could throw a shoe"

1 week ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Who throws a shoe? Honestly

1 week ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 0

Not a fan of Bush at all but I gotta hand it to him, those are impressive reflexes.

1 week ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

Cheeto would have caught it with his face.

1 week ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Lmfao

1 week ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Obligatory "the first time Jr leaned to the left in his life"

1 week ago | Likes 43 Dislikes 0

1 week ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

It's an old joke from the early 2000s, first heard it from Jay Leno back when he had the Tonight Show :v

1 week ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

Well power cedes nothing without a demand...

1 week ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

I used to work in Ladies luxury shoes industry in the late 90ies, and the Italian sizes were already 1 size bigger than French, Spanish or Chinese sizes... It would be OK for me to standardize this with Japanese system in Cm.

1 week ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

TIL.

1 week ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Try women's jean sizes.

1 week ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

U.S. -- I just try on a 10.5 and walk. If it fits, great. I'll go up or down a size in the same shoe until it feels right. Does make buying over the web a pain in the... foot.

1 week ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I miss buying my footwear by the centimeter

1 week ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 1

How are you buying it now? Acres? Metric tons?

1 week ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Apparently by an approximation of barley-corns, but inconsistently depending on who makes the fake foot

1 week ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

eh it's really just shoes used to be largely tailored made by shops or home so they'd just measure you specifically. the industrial revolution happened and gradually people started buying pre made shoes which is why the last comes in. they just use a generic wooden foot. Just never adapted to anything more practical because honestly...it really doesn't matter that much. you'll never get perfectly fitted shoes unless you have them tailored so you always sit around your size anyways. so why bother

1 week ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

if you put me in a room with ppl who decide this fucking insanity, i guarantee you i'm walking out & they're not, the room will be RED no matter what it was previously... seriously though this insanity of cluster fucks beyond reality must stop. Makes me wonder when ppl with positive IQ will finally be in charge...

1 week ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 1

can you do the same for bra sizes? Please it is driving me fucking NUTS!

1 week ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

unfortunately NEVER, because the idiots outbreed the intelligent people and we can't make them stay in school to become intelligent.

1 week ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

The part describing the "American Last" makes so much sense to me. I had an affinity for Rebok shoes from grade 6-11, because they fit in a way that no other shoe could for me. I hated almost every 90s design, but I threw esthetics out the window for comfort. My feet widened out significantly as I finished high school: I have never been able to wear a rebok since then. Nike, Keds, Vans, and other brands always felt different from each other on my feet. The math is mathing too hard...

1 week ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

We need Esperanto for footwear.

1 week ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 1

Oddly enough Esperanto got a second version called Ido

1 week ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

a scale no one uses except a few shoe nerds?

1 week ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

I meant the concept. A universal sizing method that's understood anywhere in the world, like Esperanto... You know, had it been widely adopted.

4 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I know, and what I mean is that it won't be adopted widely just because someone thinks of it and it's neat and rational. Standardization takes consensus from either a consortium of major industry players or governments of countries that buy / produce a lot.

4 days ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Welcome to earth! try not to point out the cultural oddities, they may be offended.

Also the answer the is trade guilds, local proprietary units that became standard and yes its madness.

1 week ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 1

You can be offended or just take it with humor. Since most "oddities" come from historic circumstances and neccesaties or just because of a lack of better solutions or by kings because "i say so" they were established long before in times where "globalization" could give you a hot seat on the stack... just laught about it. The USA got a foot fetish, so what? The EU loves their straight cucumbers ...

1 week ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I am not "offended"
the weird humans might be.

1 week ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

didn't mean you as you as a person but in general

1 week ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

1 week ago | Likes 260 Dislikes 0

I've heard ISO meetings can get heated

1 week ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Is that measured in Kelvin, Celsius, or Rankine?

1 week ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I don't know, but I'm sure there's a committee to figure it out

1 week ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

British Thermal Units, or kilowatt-hour. Temperature increase is heat/energy diluted by mass. A small room will rise in temperature faster than a large room or badly insulated room despite getting heated just as much.

5 days ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Introduce wolves into the standard's habitat to bring the number down.

1 week ago | Likes 57 Dislikes 0

1 week ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

Inside of you there are two wolves, one measures everything in barelycorns.

1 week ago | Likes 12 Dislikes 1

Linque: https://xkcd.com/927

Fortunately, the charging one has been solved now that we've all standardized on mini-USB. Or is it micro-USB? Shit.

1 week ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

Except usb-c (mini and micro were older ones) isn't one thing. There are a bunch of different features (in addition to different speeds) of it, and some of them have started downright lying about their capabilities (something like https://medium.com/live-view/treedix-usb-cable-tester-review-ba8a5e5137f2 can test this). Not all devices will work with all usb-c cables.

1 week ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

That was the alt-text from the original post, back in 2011

1 week ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Ah, right.

1 week ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

That can change if the standard is set on a national or even international level.

1 week ago | Likes 12 Dislikes 1

Desire paths would like a word with you. So would a horse you lead to water.

1 week ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

That's basically what Cueball is proposing in panel 2 of that comic.

For a real-life example, people in the UK - where metric is standard - still weigh some things in stones.

1 week ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 1

Not quite. Introducing a new "universal" standard is not the same as regulation.

1 week ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 1

But the principle of "Do it this way!" *they keep doing it their own way* is shared by both.

1 week ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

No, regulation is generally pretty strict on not letting someone continue to "do it their way." That's the point of regulation.

1 week ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Until ✧!regulation!✧ is introduced, as for usb-c charging mandated by the EU (and american companies followed suit to simplify production).

1 week ago | Likes 22 Dislikes 1

I love regulations so goddamn much.

2 hours ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

USB-C was already a standard, though, so they didn't introduce a new one, they forced some companies to adopt it.

1 week ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 2

regulation was introduced, not usb-c

1 week ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 1

Yes, that matches with what I said. 15(+) competing standards existed until regulation requiring usb-c was introduced.

1 week ago | Likes 12 Dislikes 0

The regulation post-dates the standard. USB-C was not developed because of the regulation, it was developed because it was the next step in the USB evolution. *Then* the regulations came into place and selected USB-C as a standard that Apple needed to adopt.

1 week ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 6

Yes? I know? I fear you aren't understanding my original point. I'm not suggesting regulation created usb-c. Usb-c was one of the competing standards (as mentioned in panels one and two). That's why there were 15 competing standards.... until regulation!

And usb-c is just one example. Pilots and ATC use english, because it was regulated and required, to prevent hundreds of conflicting languages from causing confusion and accidents.

The regulation didn't create english, it just mandated it.

1 week ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 1