The Cankle

You slim-ankled folks out there probably don't know what a cankle is. Damn you! The cankle gets its name from "Calf-Ankle" meaning the non-definition of calf to ankle or fat ankle. Unfortunately it's not yet dictionary approved so here is a drawing to help your imagination along...


Note the fact that the ankle bone appears hidden. The cankle is a problem, but not only for today's woman. In Greek mythology Ino, the mortal queen of Thebes, was known for her slim ankles and flaunted them amongst the Greek peasants who all wept bitterly over their cankles. (Ok, I made that last part up but Ino really was known for her slim ankles...)

My sister and I suffer from cankles. We can't wear shoes that strap around our tree-trunk-cankles and we are sad about it. My friend in high school actually told me that it looked like God took rulers and drew my legs. Sheesh. We mostly lament about our lack of ladylike limbs to each other and other people who suffer from cankle-ism. But lo and behold today's Wall Street Journal actually had a STORY about cankles and how people in such far flung places as New Jersey are actually trying to exercise them away.

Prairie Rutledge, the 30-year-old owner of an online surf shop in Toms River, N.J., wanted to be able to wear high heels this summer, with straps that lace around the ankle, so she signed up for kickboxing and circuit training to bulk up her calves and minimize her stocky ankles. "I just bought a jean skirt," she says. "Last summer, it would have been jeans."

Cankles may not respond to diet and exercise. "People profess you can cure it or get rid of it, but that's highly questionable," says Ethel Frese, an exercise physiology professor at St. Louis University. "You can't just spot-reduce" fat deposits, she says. - WSJ

How smart of American gyms and fitness centers to prey on us cankled people in this way. We'll buy into it because WHO wants cankles? NO ONE!

While I hate my cankles, I'm a long way off from plastic surgery. If I had that kind of money I'd do something resourceful and pay off some of my college loans or get liposuction or something. But still, it's nice to know that there are other cankled freaks out there and they are doing something about it!