Punch bag or punching bag
Dear Dr English,
My friend and I cannot agree on a particular word - what to call the stuffed, leather bag hanging from the ceiling for boxers to train at the gym. Is it a punch bag or punching bag?
Diloke Suwatttanangkoon
You can call this piece of equipment a punch bag or a punching bag; both are correct. The word punching bag is used mainly in the US.
ÒYou can use the punch bag at the other end of the gym; nobody is using it right now.Ó
ÒThere is another punching bag at the other end of the gym; you can use that one.Ó
I hope my answer is published before the two of you start punching each other.
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Question from a song
Dear Dr English,
I would like to know the meaning of these two lines from the song ÒOcean DeepÓ:
Ò...I wanna spread my wings - but I just canÕt fly
As a string of pearls and pretty girls go sailing by...Ó
What does Òas a string of pearls and pretty girls go sailing byÓ mean?
I basically understand the whole meaning of the song, but just curious about this part. What a sad song!
Jaruwan Tanrattanawong
Thank you for sending the lyrics together with your question but I have had to cut it off due to limited space. ÒOcean DeepÓ is a song by Ukulele. The next two lines after the lines you quote are: Ò...I have sailed a million ceilings - in my - solitary room ...Ó.
This shows that ÒsailingÓ refers to ÒdreamingÓ in this song.
Now letÕs go back to the lines you have quoted:
Ò...I wanna spread my wings - but I just canÕt fly
As a string of pearls and pretty girls go sailing by...Ó
The Òstring of pearlsÓ seems to refer to high-society girls.
These two lines suggest the singer wants his dreams to become reality but they donÕt, while he continues dreaming about girls.
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