rinse and shave

[Yourjones]

Hi,

Do I rinse my hands, or do I rinse tue foam on my hands before I dry my hands with towel? What should be the object of the verb "rinse"?

Te same question is for shave. Do I shave my face or shave my beard?

Thanks.

 

[Raymott]

Hi,

Do I rinse my hands, or do I rinse tue foam on my hands before I dry my hands with towel? What should be the object of the verb "rinse"?

Te same question is for shave. Do I shave my face or shave my beard?

Thanks.

I can't vouch for what you do personally. But the following is normal: You rinse your hands; your rinse the foam off your hands before drying them. It's not important what you make the object. This is the same with clean. You can clean you hands, or you clean the dirt off your hands. I have the impression that it's your hands that are the important object being rinsed or cleaned, because you are primarily interested in having clean rinsed hands - not thoroughly rinsed foam or clean dirt.

2. You shave your face, and the beard follows.
However, the opposite conclusion may be drawn from women shaving their legs. I've been (unreliably) told that blonde women with fine leg hair do not shave as often as hirsute brunettes. This would suggest that the primary object of the shaving (in both grammatical and cosmetic contexts) is the hair.

 

[Barb_D]

I think most men I know simply refer to "shaving" - no object. They don't say "I hate shaving my face" or "I hate shaving my beard" but simply "I hate shaving."

If you said "shave my beard" it sounds like you are going from having facial hair to being clean shaven.

(Regarding the leg thing - it depends if you want smooth legs, or legs that only look smooth. Cosmetically, a blond can get away with not shaving longer than a brunette, but not if you want that nice smooth feeling.)