Jag <agrajag at dragaera.net> writes: > On Mon, 2003-03-03 at 16:00, Ryan Grove wrote: > > Ever since I was a wee lad, I've wondered exactly what a shrug is. Is it > > the raising of one's shoulders and, perhaps, the accompanying > > downward-turned mouth and raised eyebrows? Or is it something else > > entirely? Could the verb "to shrug" be completely ambiguous, and perhaps > > refer to some unseen state of mind rather than a visible action? > > > > Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary ((c) 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.) > > says the following: > > > > shrug > > \Shrug\, v. i. To raise or draw up the shoulders, as in expressing > > dislike, dread, doubt, or the like. > > Hmm.. I believe this definition is missing something. I perfer this > definition from the American Heritage dictionary (actually I pulled it > off dictionary.reference.com): > > To raise the shoulders, especially as a gesture of doubt, > disdain, or indifference. There we go, that covers it pretty well. Sometimes it's only one shoulder, especially when you're leaning on the other arm. -- David Dyer-Bennet, dd-b at dd-b.net / http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/ John Dyer-Bennet 1915-2002 Memorial Site http://john.dyer-bennet.net Dragaera mailing lists, see http://dragaera.info