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Usenet Posted 21 years ago
Usage
Pins and needles and sitting
I've been trying to look for the English word to describe this sensation but I can't find it. It's the sensation that you get on your feet after you're sitting on the floor with your legs folded for some time it feels like you have a lot of ants running on your skin. What would be the English word for that?
Go with "pins and needles"...it's an utterly common phrase for the sensation you describe, and the doctor should know this
I will just mention that it is not a common phrase for me in California. It is one of those that I think I heard but could not remember the meaning. Probably because it lost out to "sitting on pins and needles", a very familiar phrase.
For a kid, it meant that the kid could not wait for an anticipated event (such as going to Disneyland)
and could barely sit on a chair.
For an adult it more often meant anxious anticipation of a possible calamity.
Richard Maurer To reply, remove half
Sunnyvale, California of a homonym of a synonym for also. (word of the day quadrivial)
Go with "pins and needles"...it's an utterly common phrase for the sensation you describe, and the doctor should know this
I will just mention that it is not a common phrase for me in California. It is one of those that I think I heard but could not remember the meaning. Probably because it lost out to "sitting on pins and needles", a very familiar phrase.
For a kid, it meant that the kid could not wait for an anticipated event (such as going to Disneyland)
and could barely sit on a chair.
For an adult it more often meant anxious anticipation of a possible calamity.
Richard Maurer To reply, remove half
Sunnyvale, California of a homonym of a synonym for also. (word of the day quadrivial)
Top answer
[/nq] I agree with my fellow Bay Arean. I think I saw the line "It's gone all pins and needles" in some British children's book once. We just said "My foot's fallen asleep" or whichever body part it was.
- [/nq] I agree with my fellow Bay Arean.
- I think I saw the line "It's gone all pins and needles" in some British children's book once.
- We just said "My foot's fallen asleep" or whichever body part it was.
- [nq:1]It is one of those that I think I heard but could not remember the meaning.
- Probably because it lost ...
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10 Answers
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[nq:1]Go with "pins and needles"...it's an utterly common phrase for the sensation you describe, and the doctor should know this I will just mention that it is not a common phrase for me in California.[/nq]
I agree with my fellow Bay Arean. I think I saw the line "It's gone all pins and needles" in some British children's book once. We just said "My foot's fallen asleep" or whichever body part
I agree with my fellow Bay Arean. I think I saw the line "It's gone all pins and needles" in some British children's book once. We just said "My foot's fallen asleep" or whichever body part
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[nq:2]Go with "pins and needles"...it's an utterly common phrase for ... it is not a common phrase for me in California.[/nq]
[nq:1]I agree with my fellow Bay Arean. I think I saw the line "It's gone all pins and needles" in some British children's book once. We just said "My foot's fallen asleep" or whichever body part it was.[/nq]
I read "fallen asleep" as something different - entirely
[nq:1]I agree with my fellow Bay Arean. I think I saw the line "It's gone all pins and needles" in some British children's book once. We just said "My foot's fallen asleep" or whichever body part it was.[/nq]
I read "fallen asleep" as something different - entirely
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Jordan Abel filted:
[nq:2]I agree with my fellow Bay Arean. I think I ... "My foot's fallen asleep" or whichever body part it was.[/nq]
[nq:1]I read "fallen asleep" as something different - entirely numb, with no sensation at all, and possibly limited or ceased motor control, too. it's only happened to me once or twice. (most often when i've slept on the limb in question funny, oddly enoug
[nq:2]I agree with my fellow Bay Arean. I think I ... "My foot's fallen asleep" or whichever body part it was.[/nq]
[nq:1]I read "fallen asleep" as something different - entirely numb, with no sensation at all, and possibly limited or ceased motor control, too. it's only happened to me once or twice. (most often when i've slept on the limb in question funny, oddly enoug
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[nq:1]My right leg once went to sleep and stayed that way for months..r[/nq]
It's when the middle one goes to sleep for months that you start to worry.
Tony Cooper
Orlando FL
It's when the middle one goes to sleep for months that you start to worry.
Tony Cooper
Orlando FL
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[nq:1]Go with "pins and needles"...it's an utterly common phrase for the sensation you describe, and the doctor should know this ... and could barely sit on a chair. For an adult it more often meant anxious anticipation of a possible calamity.[/nq]
I have the same experience. Being on pins and needles means experiencing anxious anticipation.
Skitt (in Hayward, California)
www.geoc
I have the same experience. Being on pins and needles means experiencing anxious anticipation.
Skitt (in Hayward, California)
www.geoc
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[nq:1]Jordan Abel filted:[/nq]
[nq:2]I read "fallen asleep" as something different - entirely numb, ... when i've slepton the limb in question funny, oddly enough)[/nq]
[nq:1]Since I come from the other end of California, this further narrowsthe area where the expression is unfamiliar..."asleep" meant numb; ... can walk, aftera fashion, with a leg asleep, but walking on one in the process
[nq:2]I read "fallen asleep" as something different - entirely numb, ... when i've slepton the limb in question funny, oddly enough)[/nq]
[nq:1]Since I come from the other end of California, this further narrowsthe area where the expression is unfamiliar..."asleep" meant numb; ... can walk, aftera fashion, with a leg asleep, but walking on one in the process
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Skitt filted:
[nq:1]I have the same experience. Being on pins and needles means experiencing anxious anticipation.[/nq]
Where does one go these days to buy tenterhooks?...r
[nq:1]I have the same experience. Being on pins and needles means experiencing anxious anticipation.[/nq]
Where does one go these days to buy tenterhooks?...r
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[nq:1]Skitt filted:[/nq]
[nq:2]I have the same experience. Being on pins and needles means experiencing anxious anticipation.[/nq]
[nq:1]Where does one go these days to buy tenterhooks?...r[/nq]
And why are cold cakes still slow sellers?
Ross Howard
[nq:2]I have the same experience. Being on pins and needles means experiencing anxious anticipation.[/nq]
[nq:1]Where does one go these days to buy tenterhooks?...r[/nq]
And why are cold cakes still slow sellers?
Ross Howard
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I recollect Billy Connolly telling the tale that oilrig workers used to lie on their arm deliberately until it went to sleep in order to ********** with the sensation that someone else was involved.
John Dean
Oxford
John Dean
Oxford
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[nq:1]Where does one go these days to buy tenterhooks?...r[/nq]
I believe they're sold in the same store as loggerheads.
Mark Barratt
Budapest
I believe they're sold in the same store as loggerheads.
Mark Barratt
Budapest
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