through between somebody's legs

[tufguy]

Can we say "somebody passes through between somebody's legs (I watched it in a video)" or "somebody passes through something between their own legs or somebody elses legs (for example a basket ball player passes a ball through between their legs)"?

https://www.google.co.in/imgres?img...brWAhXBO48KHf2VCzMQMwgoKAMwAw&iact=mrc&uact=8

 

[emsr2d2]

You can't use them together, no. Just use "pass something between the legs". The word "pass" already includes the idea of movement and if something is passed between two things, it must, by definition, go through from one side to the other or from top to bottom etc.

 

[tufguy]

You can't use them together, no. Just use "pass something between the legs". The word "pass" already includes the idea of movement and if something is passed between two things, it must, by definition, go through from one side to the other or from top to bottom etc.

Somebody passes between somebody's legs" or "somebody passes something between their own legs or somebody elses legs (for example a basket ball player passes a ball between their legs)

"John passed by small hole without difficulty" or "John came running and "passed" or "went through" between his friends legs. Are these correct?

 

[tzfujimino]

You've used too many "or"s, tufguy.
They make your post very confusing (for me at least).

 

[tufguy]

I'm afraid that your sentences are not correct, but you do ask some interesting questions.

What would be the correct form then? I have removed through now.

 

[emsr2d2]

a. Somebody passes between somebody's legs"
[strike]or[/strike]
​b. "somebody passes something between their own legs"
[STRIKE]or[/STRIKE]
c. "somebody passes something between somebody else's legs" (for example a basket ball player passes a ball between their legs)

a), b) and c) are possible.


1. "John passed by small hole without difficulty."
[STRIKE]or[/STRIKE]
2. "John came running and passed between his friend's legs."
[STRIKE]or[/STRIKE]
3. "John came running and went [STRIKE]through[/STRIKE] between his friend's legs."

Are these correct?

Look at my changes above. Your multiple options and multiple (frequently incorrect) uses of quotation marks are making your posts almost impossible to navigate. From now on, please do what I have done above and write a new sentence for each option, and letter or number them so that we can refer to them more easily.

Sentences 2 and 3 (with my corrections) are OK. Note the use of an apostrophe in both.
Sentence 1 is incorrect. There is an article missing and I have no idea why anyone wouldn't be able to pass by that hole without difficulty.

 

[GoesStation]

John passed by a small hole without difficulty.

This is a really strange thing to say though. Do you mean he passed over a small hole?

 

[probus]

A great teaching opportunity has been missed here, in my opinion.

@tufguy: when an attacking footballer or basketball player succeeds by passing the ball between the opponent's legs, that is called a nutmeg .

Go to youtube and search for nutmeg. You will be bewitched for hours, I guarantee. Especially by L Messi.

 

[tufguy]

John passed by a small hole without difficulty.

This is a really strange thing to say though. Do you mean he passed over a small hole?

No, I meant he was so flexible that he went by a small hole.

Passed over means he leaped over the hole. Am I correct?

 

[emsr2d2]

Why would someone need to be flexible to walk past (that's what "pass by" means) a small hole? Where is this hole?

 

[tufguy]

Why would someone need to be flexible to walk past (that's what "pass by" means) a small hole? Where is this hole?

But you told me that we do not say "pass through". So, what is the way to describe these?

https://www.google.co.in/imgres?img...WAhVEYo8KHXzgBu04ZBAzCEYoQzBD&iact=mrc&uact=8


https://www.google.co.in/imgres?img...b3WAhWGr48KHegIAGkQMwgvKAowCg&iact=mrc&uact=8

 

[GoesStation]

But you told me that we do not say "pass through". So, what is the way to describe these?

https://www.google.co.in/imgres?img...WAhVEYo8KHXzgBu04ZBAzCEYoQzBD&iact=mrc&uact=8


https://www.google.co.in/imgres?img...b3WAhWGr48KHegIAGkQMwgvKAowCg&iact=mrc&uact=8

The man in the first image is squeezing through a narrow opening in a marble wall.

As the caption of the second image says, the boy is jumping through a hoop. A common way to describe navigating bureaucracy is to say that you have to "jump through hoops".

 

[tufguy]

The man in the first image is squeezing through a narrow opening in a marble wall.

As the caption of the second image says, the boy is jumping through a hoop. A common way to describe navigating bureaucracy is to say that you have to "jump through hoops".

But if we have to say that man is just passing (I don't know what to use instead of the passing here?) through the hole then what do we need to say?

 

[GoesStation]

But if we have to say that man is just passing (I don't know what to use instead of the passing here?) through the hole then what do we need to say?

When people move through such restricted passages it's natural to choose a verb that evokes the restriction. If he were walking through a large opening while chatting on his phone he might say "I'm just passing through the wall now. I'll see you in five minutes!"*

It's not natural in most contexts to ignore the unusual condition of worming your way through an opening barely larger than yourself.

*I recently spent five nights in a hotel which is actually inside the 18th-century walls of the city of Acre (Akko), Israel. I had to walk through the 13th-century Land Gate to get to my rental car, which was parked in the moat. I might have used those words if I'd been on my phone while walking through the gate.

 

[tufguy]

When people move through such restricted passages it's natural to choose a verb that evokes the restriction. If he were walking through a large opening while chatting on his phone he might say "I'm just passing through the wall now. I'll see you in five minutes!"*

It's not natural in most contexts to ignore the unusual condition of worming your way through an opening barely larger than yourself.

*I recently spent five nights in a hotel which is actually inside the 18th-century walls of the city of Acre (Akko), Israel. I had to walk through the 13th-century Land Gate to get to my rental car, which was parked in the moat. I might have used those words if I'd been on my phone while walking through the gate.

So, "pass through" can be used according to the context. If the hole is bigger and that person doesn't have to squeeze himself
then can we say "he is passing through the hole?"

 

[emsr2d2]

I think part of the problem here is what we think of when we read about someone "passing by a small hole". This is the hole I imagined and I'm sure you can see why I didn't think it would be difficult to pass by it:





This is the type of hole someone could "pass/climb/walk through":






This is someone "squeezing through a narrow crevice". This wouldn't be called a "hole". You could say he is "passing through" it but "squeezing" is a much more evocative verb: