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Sun 25 May, 2008 04:35 pm
I wonder why both Brits and Yanks couldn't understand the word crus, which is explained well in American Heritage English Dictionary:
Crus: The section of the leg or hind limb between the knee and foot; shank.
If used "shank" instead of "crus" in the context below, will native English speakers get it easily?
Context:
On May 24, Liao Bo, a student at Beichuan Middle School, Sichuan Province of south-central China, spent his 17th birthday in Nantong General Hospital, Chongqing. He was rescued from the rubble of his school on May 13, and on 1the 18th he was transfered to Chongqing to receive further treatment for his injury. He lost his left crus in the deadly earthquake that so far has killed more than 60,000 Chinese folks, yet his mind remained so strong that he smiled through his hospitalization.
"Shank" is an archaic word here. It is used currently only (so far as I am aware) as a joint of butchermeat, eg a lamb shank.
To indicate the leg between knee and ankle we would say "lower leg", or "shin" (bone), or "calf" (muscle).
In your particular example, we would say "he lost his left leg below the knee".
"Crus" is not in general use here, and indeed is not familiar to me.
Re: What? No one knows the word "crus"? And how ab
oristarA wrote:I wonder why both Brits and Yanks couldn't understand the word crus, which is explained well in American Heritage English Dictionary:
Crus: The section of the leg or hind limb between the knee and foot; shank.
If used "shank" instead of "crus" in the context below, will native English speakers get it easily?
Context:
On May 24, Liao Bo, a student at Beichuan Middle School, Sichuan Province of south-central China, spent his 17th birthday in Nantong General Hospital, Chongqing. He was rescued from the rubble of his school on May 13, and on 1the 18th he was transfered to Chongqing to receive further treatment for his injury. He lost his left crus in the deadly earthquake that so far has killed more than 60,000 Chinese folks, yet his mind remained so strong that he smiled through his hospitalization.
using crus in this context doesn't make a lot of sense - as it suggests that his foot is still attached somehow. Shank is similarly inappropriate (and as McTag has noted, is primarily a term used by butchers now).
Of course, traveling by shank's mare means walking.
Another shank is a prison made knife.
I alway knew it as Shanks' pony (i.e. the pony belonging to Shanks). The apostrophe is placed thus.
Longshanks means "tall" or "longlogged".
In US jail slang, a "shank" is a knife.
contrex wrote:I alway knew it as Shanks' pony (i.e. the pony belonging to Shanks). The apostrophe is placed thus.
Longshanks means "tall" or "longlegged".
In US jail slang, a "shank" is a knife.
I agree with contrex here.
For the foreign reader, the expression "Shanks' pony" might need a little amplification to be understandable. Shanks is a surname, and also the old word for legs; the words are not connected so far as I know.
Hence for someone to suggest using "Shanks' pony" it is an ironic way of describing the act of walking. It is meant as a joke.
(Barry Cryer said that explaining humour is like dissecting a frog. Nobody laughs, and the frog dies.)
Freud rules! Mctag, I see that I typed "longlogged" and you kindly corrected it for me in your quote. Thank you. I do not want to think about what a person having a "long log" might mean...
McTag wrote:Nobody laughs, and the frog dies.)
Why should one laugh when a frog dies?
(Apart from cjsha, I mean)..
Barry Cryer is an exellent exponent of the celebrated "English sense of humour". As a rosbif myself, I have to say that the belief in the uniqueness of the English s.o.h. does not survive exposure to other cultures.
cjhsa laughed when Bambi's mother died. In fact, he shot Bambi's mother.
Gentlemen--young gentlemen--
What about "the shank of the evening"?
I've always heard "shank of the evening" used to describe the bony, unpalatable end of a party that has gone on too long, but there is a school of thought that insists on "shank of the evening" as a description of the early evening before the joint really starts rocking.
According to dictionary.com, shank has a lot of definitions, of which 15 a & b are most relevant:
shank n.
1.a. The part of the human leg between the knee and ankle.
b. A corresponding part in other vertebrates.
2a. The whole leg of a human.
b. A leg or leglike part.
3. A cut of meat from the leg of a steer, calf, sheep, or lamb.
4. The long narrow part of a nail or pin.
5. A stem, stalk, or similar part.
6. Nautical. The stem of an anchor.
7. The long shaft of a fishhook.
8 The part of a tobacco pipe between the bowl and stem.
9. The shaft of a key.
10. The narrow section of the handle of a spoon.
11. Printing. The section of a body of type between the shoulder and the foot.
12.a. The narrow part of the sole of a shoe under the instep.
12.b. A piece of material, such as metal, that is used to reinforce or shape this part of a shoe.
13. A projection, such as a ring, on the back of a button by which it is sewn to cloth.
14.a. See tang.
14.b. The part of a tool, such as a drill, that connects the functioning head to the handle.
15. a. The latter or remaining part, especially of a period of time.
15. b. The early or primary part of a period of time: the shank of the evening.
So as you can see, 15 a & b contradict each other.
"Shank's Mare" is an old Appalachian term for "walked"---
Q: How did you get here?
A: I came by Shank's Mare. (I walked)
Rap
The English need a sense of humour - just look at their weather!
Their s.o.h. probably translates best in Oz.
contrex wrote:According to dictionary.com, shank has a lot of definitions, of which 15 a & b are most relevant:
shank n.
1.a. The part of the human leg between the knee and ankle.
b. A corresponding part in other vertebrates.
2a. The whole leg of a human.
b. A leg or leglike part.
3. A cut of meat from the leg of a steer, calf, sheep, or lamb.
4. The long narrow part of a nail or pin.
5. A stem, stalk, or similar part.
6. Nautical. The stem of an anchor.
7. The long shaft of a fishhook.
8 The part of a tobacco pipe between the bowl and stem.
9. The shaft of a key.
10. The narrow section of the handle of a spoon.
11. Printing. The section of a body of type between the shoulder and the foot.
12.a. The narrow part of the sole of a shoe under the instep.
12.b. A piece of material, such as metal, that is used to reinforce or shape this part of a shoe.
13. A projection, such as a ring, on the back of a button by which it is sewn to cloth.
14.a. See tang.
14.b. The part of a tool, such as a drill, that connects the functioning head to the handle.
15. a. The latter or remaining part, especially of a period of time.
15. b. The early or primary part of a period of time: the shank of the evening.
So as you can see, 15 a & b contradict each other.
It's also a verb, to describe a golf shot which was mis-hit (the opposite of a slice). That probably relates to 14b above.
margo wrote:The English need a sense of humour - just look at their weather!
Their s.o.h. probably translates best in Oz.
My friends are touring SW England in a two-seater sports car. Gales and torrential rain for days. And they're Germans, so there's no chance they'll find THAT funny.
:wink:
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