He sprinkled me in pixie dust

listeneverIn the first line, what does "He sprinkled me in pixie dust" mean?

He put a small amount of pixie dust (a material produced by pixies that enables one to fly)on me.

listeneverHow is this different in meaning from "He sprinkled me with pixie dust"?

It does not.

listeneverI know

Thanks.
I was asking about the usage of the verb "sprinkle".
Let's say pixie dust is "A", the thing with which to sprinkle, and "me" is "B", the person on which to sprinkle.

Mister MicawberHe put a small amount of pixie dust on me.

Like you said here, you can use the form of sprinkling A on B, sprinkling A onto B, or sprinkling A over B

listeneverBut can you use the form of sprinkling B in A to mean the same thing?

Ah. Yes, it does.

Then are these all correct?
Sprinkle me in some water. (= Sprinkle me with some water.)
Sprinkle the strawberries in sugar. (= Sprinkle the strawberries with sugar.)
Sprinkle the meat in salt. (= Sprinkle the meat with salt.)

listeneverThen are these all correct?

No. Use "with." Use "in" if you will be mixing the substance with other (liquid) ingredients..

Sprinkle in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for another 1 to 2 minutes.
Sprinkle in a little agricultural sulfur to increase acidity in alkaline soil.

Note that lyrics and poems have "poetic licens

AlpheccaStarsNote that lyrics and poems have "poetic license" which exempts the authors from conventional language.

Thanks.
But I see no reason to intentionally use the otherwise wrong "in" instead of "with" in this particular case.
Do you?

listeneverBut I see no reason to intentionally use the otherwise wrong "in" instead of "with" in this particular case.Do you?

Yes. It's the poetic or literary device of repetition.

He sprinkled me in pixie dust and told me to believe
Believe in him and believe in me
Together we will fly away in a cl

listeneverthe structure and the use of "in" here

I would have used "with", not "in". It's possible, however, that the song writer was thinking of the somewhat analogous "covered in"/"covered with", or indeed even originally wrote "He covered me in pixie dust" and then edited to substitute "sprinkled" for "covered" and neglected to change "in" to "with". Many

CJ,

In "He covered me in pixie dust", the prepositional phrase "in pixie dust", I think, describes the result of the action of covering.
But "He sprinkled me in pixie dust" doesn't work, because, unlike the verb "cover", the verb "sprinkle" cannot be combined with the result of the action of sprinkling under normal circumstances.

Is that what you're saying?

listeneverIs that what you're saying?

No. I'm just saying that "cover" collocates with "in" as well as "with". "sprinkle with", however, is much more common than "sprinkle in". The factor involving the result of the action doesn't change although for some speakers "in" may connote a more thorough covering (or sprinkling) than "with" does.

CJ