It's been years since I've ever heard the word. Once you think about it, it's actually very disturbingly gross. Sweat + Bacteria + sock fragments = that shit between your toes. *shudder*
I'm with you. Certain words or phrases trigger my disgust reflex pretty hard, esp. foot-related things like this. I got around being disturbed by that phrase when Sega released a video game years ago called Toe Jam & Earl. Now whenever I hear the words, I just picture that quirky alien dude, and I don't get grossed out anymore. Now if only I could stop flinching every time someone said "stinky feet"...ugh...it was an effort even to type it!
No doubt shoes and socks (first just loose pieces of fur or wool or grass) were invented as a useful tool against the cold, or for extreme surfaces. The folks who were nuts were the ones who somehow started wearing them all day, every day.
Ahahah. Toe jam is crazy. That's probably why feet creep a lot of people out. Feet with toe jam are terrifying.
And that's just one more of the horrible consequences of wearing shoes. And isn't it ironic that practically everything that creeps some people out about feet are caused by shoes? Yet it's the feet that are blamed. It's exactly like blaming the victim for the crime.
