Entry · catalog no. 6209
good foot
/ /ɡʊd fʊt/ /GUUD-fuut
noun · nationwide · 1970s
✓ Verified
1.
Your best form — doing right, staying sharp, moving correctly.
“Get on the good foot — handle your business.”
Origin & Attribution
Fixed in the language by James Brown''s 1972 hit Get on the Good Foot, a number-one R&B record. To be on the good foot is to be in good form and doing right; the song''s polyrhythms also fed the dancing that would grow into b-boying in the Bronx.
1972
James Brown releases Get on the Good Foot
1970s
The Good Foot dance feeds early b-boying in the Bronx
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide / diaspora
nationwide · 1970s
Spoken by
nationwide
$GOODFOThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Steady54 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
55/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1972
in the culture
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
Hear it spoken
By region — how it actually sounds
@auntiereg
Atlanta, GA
@deltasoul
Memphis, TN
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See also