Teacher Discussion Forums

Hello,
Is sentence number one confusing because I don't make the context clear enough, or can you know that I'm referring to shopping online? In other words, do I need to add "and shop online" like I added in sentence number two, or do both sentences obviously have the same meaning?
1. I hate to go out shopping in Beijing because of the terrible traffic jams, thus I let my fingers do the walking.
2. I hate to go out shopping in Beijing because of the terrible traffic jams, thus I let my fingers do the walking and shop online.

Your second sentence would be clearer. I remember an old advertisement for the yellow pages, the book for advertising businesses with their addresses and phone numbers, which said "let your fingers do the walking" but I don't know if that is understood by other people, and whether it would be understood to mean shopping online or not.

Fun and potentially instructive as that 'fingers' phrase may be, I think it's a bit too idiomatic (a Yellow Pages slogan < ? > a song by Neil Young) to be worth teaching. Why not just say "I (often) prefer to shop online, as it's easier/more convenient than trying to park (at) and walk around the shops".

I want to thank both of you for taking the time to answer my question.

"fingers do the walking" is an idiom. So the second sentence is a better one.