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younes
hi threre
whats meaning of "specimen" in this sentence?
whats gist of this sentence?what about the physical falling-aparts? The replaced knees and all the rest?
ASHBROOK: back in the day, you were a big-time
weightlifter! I think you lifted six hundred pounds once, taking the prize
in California. You must have been some specimen, what about the
physical falling-aparts? The replaced knees and all the rest?
Sep 2, 2019 1:53 PM
Answers · 10
Hi Younes,
“Specimen” in this context is a word for thinking about this person’s body in a very physical way, like it is an object. The person is saying that this weightlifter’s body would have been in such good physical condition that it was like an ideal example of a human body. You can think of it like “so good it should be studied in a laboratory”.
I can understand Marcela when she says she wouldn’t use the term, because it is old-fashioned to speak this way. “You must have been something else!” would be a more common expression nowadays to say how impressed you are with the weightlifter’s body.
September 2, 2019
In this example:
'specimen' = 'in good physical shape' = 'quite fit'
'physical falling-aparts' = 'physical/health problems' or 'physical injuries'
'physical falling-aparts' sounds a bit British to me. A U.S. English speaker would not use that construction. He might say '..., what about all the health problems?' or '..., what about all the physical injuries?"
September 2, 2019
I wouldn't really use "specimen" in this sentence. I would instead say "You must have been something else!". But, what "specimen" is intended to convey is that he was impressive, "some specimen!", really out of the ordinary, exceptional, etc. Also, I wouldn't say "what about the physical failling-aparts?" It would be a separate sentence, and would be phrased something like" What about the physical deterioration?" or "what about the negative physical consequences?", or something like that...
September 2, 2019
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younes
Language Skills
English, Persian (Farsi)
Learning Language
English
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