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The American-English colloquial noun ankle express designates one’s feet as a means of travel, humorously represented as a form of public transport.
—Cf. the synonymous nouns hobnail express and Shanks’s pony.
—Cf. also the Australian-English phrase the Emmaville Express and the American-English phrase Siberian Express.
The noun ankle express occurs, for example, in the following from the column Reflections, by Jeff Maguire, published in The Smiths Falls Record News (Smiths Falls, Ontario, Canada) of Thursday 15th January 2015 [page 12, column 1]:
When I was a kid we walked a kilometre or so to school and back every day of the school year and lived to tell the tale. When I was growing up in the then small village of Stittsville there was no bus transportation to and from the public school. You had to find your own way and for most kids the ankle express was the regular mode of transportation, even on the coldest and wettest days.
These are, in chronological order, the earliest occurrences of the noun ankle express that I have found:
—Note: These early occurrences are from newspapers published in the southeastern states of Georgia and Alabama:
1-: From a correspondence from Faceville, Georgia, about a mysterious woman who had been seen roaming about the suburbs of that town, published in The Bainbridge Democrat (Bainbridge, Georgia, USA) of Thursday 12th May 1887 [page 3, column 6]:
She went to the County Poor House near here and informed the keeper, Mr. F. J. Johnson, […] that she had promised to meet her son near Bainbridge on the Thomasville road, and requested him to show her the way into it. He went with her to the road, and when last heard from she was about two miles from town making good time in the direction of Thomasville on the ankle express.
2-: From Sycamore Items, by ‘Shaker’, dated Sycamore, Alabama, Monday 12th May 1890, published in Our Mountain Home (Talladega, Alabama, USA) of Wednesday 21st May 1890 [page 1, column 3]:
Ed. Home: […] There is one man living at Alpine, Ala., that is slightly affected with the matrimonial fever and I believe to my soul that he will get it cured if his buggy will stand two or three more trips and if it does not he says he has a pass on the “ankle express.” Hurrah! Doctor; but you must come and go easy for I have a finger in the pie.
3-: From The Atlanta Constitution (Atlanta, Georgia, USA) of Monday 8th August 1892 [page 3, column 3]:
The Eggs and the Doctor.
Smithville, Ga., August 7.—(Special.)—Dr. Blackband, who came here on Thursday night, did not meet with much success in the sale of his medicine, which he claimed to be a sure cure for toothache, backache, for pains outwardly, inwardly, etc. He made himself so disagreeable that the boys of the town gave him an overdose of rotten eggs, which made him sick until early Monday morning, when he took the special over the ankle express line for parts unknown. He left the town and forgot to pay Mr. Howell McAfee his board bill, which amounted to $6. Of course, the doctor would have paid his board, but, being in such a hurry to catch the special, he just forgot it. But he didn’t forget his valise, and Mr. McAfee says if the doctor will just show up once more that he will learn him how to remember board bills in the future.
4-: From The Tuskaloosa Gazette (Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA) of Thursday 15th December 1892 [page 3, column 6]:
A VISIT TO THE UNIVERSITY.
From Tuesday’s Daily.A Gazette man yesterday while nosing for news concluded to interview the University officials and the cadets. Thereupon we boarded the “ankle express,” and arrived on time at the seat of learning.
5-: From The Choctaw Alliance (Butler, Alabama, USA) of Wednesday 1st February 1893 [page 4, column 1]:
Col. Young says “cousin Steve” (S. J. Trice) “sho [sic] took ankle express” until he landed in old Mississippi, and his portable attorney joined his client again in Shubuta the next day. “The wicked fleeth when no man pursueth.”
6-: From The Shelby Sentinel (Calera, Alabama, USA) of Thursday 27th September 1894 [page 3, column 5]:
William Miller, a prominent third party leader of beat 8, went to the singing convention at Sterretts [sic] Sunday to exhibit his derby. After he had exhibited his derby to the delight of all for several hours he took his leave for Vandiver to meet the down mail for the purpose of experiencing his first ride on a train. When within half a mile of Sterrett the porter cried out Sterrett. Miller thinking he meant for him to leap off at once, he obeyed. The result was a crushed derby, a bruised shoulder and a disfigured dude. He now prefers the Ankle Express or the Muscle Mogul.
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