"low over/below"

Question

The sentence. I saw:"The seat belt should fit low over the pelvic bone."Shouldnt it normally be "below" the pelvic bone. I've never seen this usage replacing the word "below", which is a much more common expression.Thanks for any help in advance!

Ivanhr · Accepted Answer

'low over' is very different from 'below'.

Here it simply means that the seat belt should be close to the pelvic bone.

Compare

We flied low over the ocean.

We flied high over the ocean.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

We flew low over the ocean.

We flew high over the ocean.

CalifJim · Answer

chivalryThe seat belt should fit low over the pelvic bone.

below the pelvic bone can mean underneath the pelvic bone, in other words, inside your body. A surgeon may need to cut below the pelvic bone to correct some problem with your anatomy.

But leaving that aside, if a different meaning is intended, using the axis from head to foot as the reference, below the pelvic bone can mean lower (closer to the floor when you're standing) than the pelvic bone. A cross section through your body at that height from the floor would not even touch the pelvic bone. With that reference in mind, low on or low over the pelvic bone would be higher. A cross section at that height from the floor would cut through the lower part of the pelvic bone, not below it.

Similarly a stain low on a window is higher than a stain below a window. In the first case the stain is on the lower part of the window; in the second case the stain is on the wall below the window.

CJ

Philip · Answer

I think that a simple comma would help here, to suggest that low is simply to designate other than high, around the waist, for example.
The seat belt should fit low, over the pelvic bone.

"low over/below"

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