nail

[unpakwon]

What does "nail" refer to in the following? The thin pointed piece of metal, or the thing on the ends of your fingers? It's confusing.

'Quit worrying! And then do something about it!' Right then and there I took an oath, an oath so solemn that the nails sank deep into my flesh and cold chills ran down my spine: 'I am not going to worry! I am not going to cry! And if there is anything to mind over matter, I am going to win! I am going to LIVE!'

And does the second one mean "if I have to fight a mental fight over something"?

Thank you.

 

[emsr2d2]

What does "nail" refer to in the following? The thin pointed piece of metal, or the thing on the ends of your fingers? It's confusing.

'Quit worrying! And then do something about it!' Right then and there I took an oath, an oath so solemn that the nails sank deep into my flesh and cold chills ran down my spine: 'I am not going to worry! I am not going to cry! And if there is anything to mind over matter, I am going to win! I am going to LIVE!'

And does the second one mean "if I have to fight a mental fight over something"?

Thank you.

On the assumption that the speaker was not standing with a handful of small metal nails in order to do some DIY, we can only assume that it was his fingernails which sank into his own flesh, with the seriousness of the oath he was taking.

Look at the definition of "mind over matter" here. When we say that "there is something to something" we mean "if there is any truth in it".

So basically, they are saying that if it is true that a person can use their willpower to overcome adversity or something unpleasant, then the speaker will be successful in winning and surviving.

 

[BobK]

:up:, but 'And if there is anything to mind over matter...' could do with a bit of punctuation. I didn't understand it until I saw your reply - to which my initial response was 'Who's asking about "there is something to something"?', because I was reading 'anything to mind' as one idea. 'And if there is anything to mind over matter...' or '... anything to "mind over matter"...' would have avoided this problem. ;-)

b
PS And perhaps 'it was his fingernails which sank into his own flesh, with the seriousness of the oath he was taking' needs a bit more explanation. Maybe this is a cultural thing. The oath was so serious that he clenched his fists as he was taking it.