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Kedra Posted 20 years ago
Vocabulary

"cave like the French" meaning

0I encounted the phrase in one article:02br
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01b00Impress your friends!02b02br
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00Next time you're at a party, try this trick: Have a person hold one arm straight out to the side, palm down, and instruct him to maintain this position. Then place two fingers on his wrist and push down. He'll resist. Now have him put one foot on a surface that's a half inch higher (a few magazines) and repeat. 01b00This time his arm will cave like the French02b00. By misaligning his hips, you've offset his spine, says Rachel Cosgrove, C.S.C.S., co-owner of Results Fitness, in Santa Clarita, California. Your brain senses that the spine is vulnerable, so it shuts down the body's ability to resist.02br
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00 Am I right to understand that the line in bold means that teh person will just have his go down 01b00like the hand doesn't belong to him and he has no control of it?02b02br
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00Thanks0-
  

Top answer

0This is really a bit of a dodgy way to put it! 02br 02br 00Cave - to give way, to surrender, to be weak or cowardly. 'like the French' is saying that the French have behaved in a way that is weak and cowardly.

  • 0This is really a bit of a dodgy way to put it!
  • 02br 02br 00Cave - to give way, to surrender, to be weak or cowardly.
  • 'like the French' is saying that the French have behaved in a way that is weak and cowardly.
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4 Answers
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0This is really a bit of a dodgy way to put it! You'll horribly offend anyone French.02br
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00It is using a double meaning: cave as in 'cave-in'/collapse - the action of the arm collapsing downwards.02br
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00Cave - to give way, to surrender, to be weak or cowardly. 'like the French' is saying that the French have behaved in a way that is weak and cow
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0The only reference I've found in Google is "cave in like the French army on the Maginot line". That was during WW1, the Maginot line was a line of trenches; the French had to give in against the assault of the German army. It equals to saying to an American: "your arm will collapse like the twin towers"... 050010id7
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0Thanks. For known reasons I won't name the resource, but this was written in one of the popular magazines of nowdays 05000.02br
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00Anyway, I would never use it, since I am very careful about the prazes which do not have the direct meaning. Being not a native speaker, I am aware I take risk of showing off as unpolite or stupid person. I love French people 0510
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0No harm done, Kedra 05000 I'm Belgian!010id1

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