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Khoff Posted 9 years ago
Vocabulary

"taking a knee"

All this furor about athletes and now lots of other folks "taking a knee" during the national anthem as a protest has got me wondering -- where did this expression come from and how long has it been around? What's wrong with good old "kneeling" -- does that specifically mean being down on both knees instead of one? The classic instance of someone being down on one knee is to propose marriage, but I don't remember that ever being called "taking a knee."

  

Top answer

Hi The technical question should surely not be answered by me from the UK! But we're talking about it here too, so ... My understanding is that it's quite a complex gesture in US football which shows sportsmanship but tends to be adopted by the team that's winning That seems to sum up how we read it here - but I give way to anyone who's more in the know Dave

— Dave_anon

  • Hi The technical question should surely not be answered by me from the UK!
  • But we're talking about it here too, so ...
  • My understanding is that it's quite a complex gesture in US football which shows sportsmanship but tends to be adopted by the team that's winning That seems to sum up how we read it here - but I give way to anyone who's more in the know Dave
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2 Answers
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Hi

The technical question should surely not be answered by me from the UK! But we're talking about it here too, so ...

My understanding is that it's quite a complex gesture in US football which shows sportsmanship but tends to be adopted by the team that's winning

That seems to sum up how we read it here - but I give way to anyone who's more in the know

Dave

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khoffwhere did this expression come from and how long has it been around

It's from "to take a vow" [to make a solemn declaration in a public way].

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