Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[nickalc]

When someone said 'He's too thin to carry it,' I figured that it was wrong and should be 'He's too weak to carry it.'

Then I thought it to be an interesting error some Chinese speakers make in English writing, so I posted it on a Chinese English Learning forum to share.

Then I got flamed harshly and being labeled as illiterate and uneducated at all as I 'clumsily put a chinglish label on a real english phrase.'
I asked for their evidence(s), but got none yet.

The problem is,
1st, I never saw 'thin' defined to be anything close to 'weak.'
2nd, I never saw or heard such usage in writings.
3rd, I consulted a few people around including a couple of librarians, they all said they would not say some thing like 'He's too thin to carry it.'


So, what do you think?
Is it proper to say 'He's too thin to carry it,' is it a real English phrase?

[Lorikeet]

I agree with you. It doesn't make sense to me. He could be thin, yet strong. I would use weak.

[nickalc]

Well, they did bring up a definition from dictionary.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thin
#5a does say 'lacking strength', but the example shown is figurative rather than physical.
That's the theoretical ground they hold now.

But still, theoretically right doesn't it a real english. Nobody's talking or writing like that.
That's my point and expecting their 'tons of sold evidence' which yet to come up.
I'm not afraid to be wrong cuz i ain't an english professional, but a mere user, and it'd be good for me to learn something new if i was corrected.

[Lorikeet]

I think it's silly to use the dictionary to "prove" something that isn't used by native speakers anyway. They can talk however they want, but it sounds odd. "Thin" broth is the opposite of "thick" broth. A "thin" plot is not substantial. You don't see an example of "thin" being the opposite of "strong". http://www.synonym.com/antonym/thin/

[nickalc]

I agree with you. A dictionary definition often doesn't show the real life use of a word.


BTW, I made a mistake on the title though, it should be "Would you say ...?"