Talk:risk one's life and limb
Latest comment: 4 years ago by Canonicalization in topic RFD discussion: November 2019–January 2020
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SOP: risk + life and limb. risk one's life or risk one's neck could be used as a translation target, though. Canonicalization (talk) 13:37, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
- Delete. It doesn't strike me as even a set phrase- that would be "risk life and limb". Perhaps a move would be in order. Chuck Entz (talk) 14:15, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
- There are occasional uses of risk one’s life and limb ([1], [2], [3]), which I think is a mildly distorted variant of risk life and limb. The simplest solution is to move the current entry to the more proper term risk life and limb and redefine the entry under discussion as an alternative form. --Lambiam 19:35, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
- I've done just that, though I've labeled risk one's life and limb as a misconstruction rather than a mere alternative form; if you think that's too strong, feel free to edit.
- I still think it's a bit silly to have both life and limb and risk life and limb, but fair enough; there are many other cases like this one (sometimes of my doing, even). Canonicalization (talk) 19:52, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
- There are occasional uses of risk one’s life and limb ([1], [2], [3]), which I think is a mildly distorted variant of risk life and limb. The simplest solution is to move the current entry to the more proper term risk life and limb and redefine the entry under discussion as an alternative form. --Lambiam 19:35, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
- Moving/merging with risk life and limb is fine, but I'd like to point out this kind of phrase is often not literal. Astronauts for example, who actually risk life and limb are rarely said to be doing so. The example on life and limb is "Those kids are risking life and limb when they go inside that old abandoned house: it might collapse on their heads." which doesn't seem very literal either. The phrase is more of a deterrent to stop the children. They could cut themselves, fall or get bitten by a raccoon or something, but it's unlikely the house will actually collapse and kill them. They are much more likely to fall down the stairs at home. (that's a comforting thought, isn't it?) The phrase is generally used as a deterrent or to emphasize how heroic someone's actions are or were. Alexis Jazz (talk) 13:59, 13 November 2019 (UTC)