The Toes Is the Toes

In 1991, John Phillips (presumably not THE John Phillips who, a hundred thousand years ago, along with his wife Michelle teamed up with Cass Elliot and Denny Doherty) suggested in The New England Journal of Medicine that the toes be named. In his letter (1991, vol. 324, no. 7, p. 497) he proposed that the pedal digits be called

  • porcellus fori
  • porcellus domi
  • porcellus carnivorus
  • porcellus non voratus
  • porcellus plorans domum

Anyone who had Sister Monica for Latin in high school will immediately recognize the root porcus or pig, and should be able to translate:

  • little pig at market
  • little pig at home
  • little meat-eating pig
  • little pig having not eaten
  • little pig crying homeward