plow

[unpakwon]

What does "plow" refer to in the following? A farming tool, or a farming field?

I pondered over that earth-shaking problem for many an hour as I walked behind the plow.

If it refers to a farming tool, it sounds strange, although I can translate it literally.

 

[SoothingDave]

What is so weird about walking behind a plow?

 

[emsr2d2]

In BrE, the piece of farming equipment is called a "plough" (same pronunciation as "plow"). The verb is "to plough".

 

[SoothingDave]

In BrE, the piece of farming equipment is called a "plough" (same pronunciation as "plow"). The verb is "to plough".

Are they "draught" horses that pull a plough?

 

[billmcd]

What does "plow" refer to in the following? A farming tool, or a farming field?

I pondered over that earth-shaking problem for many an hour as I walked behind the plow.

If it refers to a farming tool, it sounds strange, although I can translate it literally.

Why do you find it strange? Prior to automated plowing machinery, the farmer/driver would have a horse pull the plow while the farmer would guide (walk behind) the machinery through the farmland. This practice is probably continued in many areas of many countries.

 

[BobK]

The tool. The problem is that you're thinking of the wrong sort of plow (Br Eng 'plough'). You're thinking of this, whereas the sort of plow you walk behind is this ;-)

b

 

[BobK]

Are they "draught" horses that pull a plough?

Yes, just as 'draught beer' is pulled (and if it's fizzy stuff that comes out of a plastic tap, don't let the ad-men tell you it's 'draught'). :cheers:

b

 

[unpakwon]

Why do you find it strange? Prior to automated plowing machinery, the farmer/driver would have a horse pull the plow while the farmer would guide (walk behind) the machinery through the farmland. This practice is probably continued in many areas of many countries.

The writer is talking about all kinds of worries he had when he was a child. "When thunderstorms came, I worried for fear I would be killed by lightening... I worried for fear I would go to hell when I died. ... I'm afraid I'm going to be buried alive. and so on." The child here is Dale Carnegie, and I'm reading his <<How to Stop Worrying & Start Living>>. I thought it is unlikely a child can plow a field using the plow.

 

[SoothingDave]

It depends on the age. But surely before the age of 18 children were used on family farms for these types of tasks.

 

[BobK]

I imagine as soon as he could reach the handles he was pestering his father to let him have a go.

b

 

[emsr2d2]

I imagine he was viewed as a useful member of the workforce as soon as he could reach the handles.

This child seems to be doing a pretty good job of it.

 

[BobK]

:up: The supposition that a child is economically nothing but a drain on resources until they leave school (school?) is a peculiarly Western late-twentieth-century thing.

b