No, this belief goes way back, like pre-WW2. My father would tell a story explaining why one foot was scarred and ticklish that involved the neighborhood kids

No, this belief goes way back, like pre-WW2. My father would tell a story explaining why one foot was scarred and ticklish that involved the neighborhood kids pissing on his bleeding foot after stepping on a broken bottle while playing soccer barefoot in the plaza back home in Italy. All the kids knew to piss on the wound to sterilize it. He was born in '42.