Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[shvetsov2005]

From Tom Sawer:

He was regarded as a wonderful reader. At church "sociables" he was
always called upon to read poetry; and when he was through, the ladies
would lift up their hands and let them fall helplessly in their laps,
and "wall" their eyes, and shake their heads, as much as to say, "Words
cannot express it; it is too beautiful, TOO beautiful for this mortal
earth."

I am confused with this "let then fall helplessly in their laps".
Why isn't it "on their laps". You usually put your hands ON your laps, isn't it?

Alex.

[CP]

Lots of prepositions work when talking about laps. A lap is sort of like a table, sort of like a bowl, sort of like a rack. A cat might jump onto my lap and sit in my lap. I might balance a plate on my lap while sitting on a chair at a party. You might have a shawl or blanket draped over your lap to keep you warm. You might hold a baby on your lap, and when someone asks where the baby is, you could say, "He's right here in my lap."

When Mark Twain wrote "and let them fall helplessly in their laps," he really meant "into their laps," as much as anything else. One gets the picture that the hands fell palms up, while "on their laps" would convey the image of the hands palms down--to me, at least.
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