David Copperfield
question
What does "head and shoulders" phrase mean
Barth
Mar 08, 2013 06:42AM
What a curious phrase, "brought in by the head and shoulders." What does it mean? My searches on the Internet showed several uses of this phrase and also "lugged in by the head and shoulders." Taken in context, it seems to be used when a topic is forced into conversation. But what is the word picture that this phrase evokes? I'm also interested if there is a current phrase that is used in a similar manner.
http://books.google.com/books?id=h9U9...
Found this. An excerpt from An Essay on the Archaeology of Our Popular Phrases, and ..., Volume 2, Issue 1
By John Bellenden Ker
Found this. An excerpt from An Essay on the Archaeology of Our Popular Phrases, and ..., Volume 2, Issue 1
By John Bellenden Ker
My humble suggestion: had a hecka time getting my second son into the world; he was brought into it head and shoulders after several trying hours. He was a 10-pounder and I am 4'9", so one could speculate that being brought into the world "head and shoulders" was indeed a labor.
Barth Siemens
Wow! I cannot imagine how hard that must've been. What did you think about the earlier answer, which I found most informative?
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Mar 08, 2013 02:03PM · flag