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January 31, 2009 3:31 am
I was listening today while you talked about 'dogs barking' can mean sore feet. That made me think about last night when I 'barked' my shin against a table. I know that this comes from Middle English 'barken' meaning to remove bark from a tree or to rub the skin off by banging or rubbing sharply.
The question is: why only shins? We don't bark our knees or elbows or forehead.
I enjoy your show every week on WFYI in Indianapolis, IN
Mike
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February 2, 2009 5:13 am
Hi, Mike - I've never used "bark" in this sense, although I've read about it, and it doesn't appear that it need be limited to shins. The Oxford English Dictionary uses these examples:
c. transf. To scrape or rub off the skin (esp. from the shins and joints); to graze, abrade.
1850 B. TAYLOR Eldorado xvii. (1862) 171 Barking my hand on the rough bark of a branchless pine. 1880 BESANT & RICE Seamy Side xxvii. 227 He had barked his elbows, broken his shins.
Mike, I'm curious: When you use bark this way, does the skin have to be broken?