idiom poll

[Word Nerd]

Do you say "set foot" or "step foot" when you mean you never want to go into a particular place again? Which do you hear or read more often?

[Orthodox6]

Never have heard "step foot".

[nmoira]

Never have heard "step foot".

 

 

Nor have I.

[Violet Crown]

Google Fight gives 54,700 hits for "never set foot in" and 10,900 for "never step foot in."

 

 

[Dandelion]

Definitely "set foot". "Step foot" sounds awkward to me.

[Word Nerd]

I've always said "set foot" but have been hearing and seeing "step foot" more often lately, especially online (including here). Maybe it's not as common as I thought.

[PachiSusan]

Step foot. Born and raised in Southern California, for reference.

[QueenCat]

I've never heard "step foot".

[PachiSusan]

I've never heard "step foot".

 

Apparently I'm the only one who has so far! LOL

[Orthodox6]

Here is somebody else's poll about the same question, posed in 2010.

 

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=573089

[Dandelion]

Here's an interesting article on "set foot in" vs. "step foot in" from the Columbia Journalism Review. Per the article "set foot in" is the correct use of the phrase. An excerpt:

 

"Here’s another way to look at it: When you walk, you step. Each time you step, you set your foot down. When you walk into a place, you step into it; you set foot into it. “Step†is pure action; “set†implies deliberation."

 

Out of curiosity, I looked up the phrases in an online idiom dictionary. Only "set foot in" was listed - there was no listing for "step foot in".

[Guest submarines]

"Step foot" doesn't really make any sense.

 

I also don't think it is actually an idiom, or at least not the way I understand what idioms are. I think it is an expression.

 

Idiom:

Noun

 

• A group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words (e.g., raining cats and...
   
  

 

[PachiSusan]

Set to me is "Set something down". If you're walking into a place, you are STEPPING into the place. I find SET completely out of place and wrong. However, looks like I'm only one of the 2.2% though - so ignore me. LOL

[Orthodox6]

Set to me is "Set something down". If you're walking into a place, you are STEPPING into the place. I find SET completely out of place and wrong. However, looks like I'm only one of the 2.2% though - so ignore me. LOL

 

Don't lose sleep over it!

 

We set down a foot. OR We set a foot on the floor. (or onto the whatever)

 

We step with a foot.

 

"I'll never step with my foot in that place again!" is the only way the Grammar Police will let me pass.

OR

"I'll never set [my] foot in that place again!" (It is unlikely that I'm going to set someone else's foot in the room.)

 

(So if I refuse to step with my foot, what AM I willing to step with in that place?!)

[PachiSusan]

 

Don't lose sleep over it!

 

We set down a foot. OR We set a foot on the floor. (or onto the whatever)

 

We step with a foot.

 

"I'll never step with my foot in that place again!" is the only way the Grammar Police will let me pass.

 

(So if I refuse to step with my foot, what AM I willing to step with in that place?!)

 

Don't worry - I won't. I got up to early. I'm already wanting to go to bed.

[freeindeed]

I've only heard and said "set foot."

[SKL]

Now don't hate me, but before I read the comments, I thought, " 'step foot' sounds like something my hillbilly SIL would say." She also likes terms such as "conversating," which she seems to think is a sophisticated version of "chatting." Ahem. I am going to Hell for sure.

[Elinor Everywhere]

I've heard it both ways. Lived half my life in OH and half my life in SoCal/west. Now I'm wondering which place I learned which expression!

[Ellie]

"Step foot" sounds to me as if the people who are saying it misunderstood it in the first place, the way people say "one in the same" instead of "one and the same."

[poiema]

I've heard both, but I think "step foot" is more common 'round here. They both sound right to me, though "set foot" makes more sense.

[Melissa in Australia]

set foot is the expression used here.

 

step foot sounds like some sort of dance maneuver or something

[TravelingChris]

I have never heard step foot

[Mama Geek]

I use set foot and I am from the east coast. I have lived several places and not heard step foot.

[Cinder]

I have also never heard the term "step foot."

[Chris in VA]

Oh no! Now I'm confusing myself. I put set foot, but now step foot seems right.

[Word Nerd]

 

I also don't think it is actually an idiom, or at least not the way I understand what idioms are. I think it is an expression.

 

The phrase is listed in several dictionaries of idioms.

[MFA323]

"Step" isn't a transitive verb, so you cannot step foot somewhere. I imagine "step foot" is a corruption of "set foot" rather than a regional variation.

[KarenNC]

Heard and used both, don't know which I use most commonly. Spent my entire life in NC, if that makes a difference in this.

[JFSinIL]

Set foot. Born and raised in Southern California, too, for reference :-)

[ElizaG]

"Step foot" sounds to me as if the people who are saying it misunderstood it in the first place, the way people say "one in the same" instead of "one and the same."

 

In case anyone cares, those sorts of mistakes are sometimes called "eggcorns." :) And "step foot" sounds like one of those to me, too -- though apparently there's some debate about it:

 

The Eggcorn Database >> step foot