Obama Pitches Health Reform
The WSJ says that the latest obsession among the body-conscious is the fat ankle, or "cankle," as it's commonly known. Some of popular fashion items of the summer have "only added to the collective cankle anxiety" that has pushed gyms to create specific workouts and plastic surgeons to offer liposuction procedures. Even shoe companies are getting in on the mix, promising that certain models will minimize the cankle. Now a once-obscure term has entered the popular lexicon and joined other slang terms that are used to unflatteringly refer to body parts, including bay window, love handles, and muffin tops, to name a few. Body-image experts say all these terms help to contribute to eating disorders and create self-esteem issues. "Pretty soon it will be 'Let's start strengthening our toes,' " said one.
Daniel Politi has been contributing to Slate since 2004 and wrote the "Today's Papers" column from 2006 to 2009. You can follow him on Twitter @dpoliti.



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