Get down!

[muckefuck]

I was thinking about doing a Word of the Day post for "squat", since it's a useful verb that I don't know in many other languages, but when I went to the dictionaries, I realised I don't really understand the different between "squat", "stoop", "crouch", and "hunker". I don't really have the last of these in my speech (except in the phrasal verb "hunker down"), but the OED defines it as "To squat, with the haunches, knees, and ankles acutely bent, so as to bring the hams near the heels, and throw the whole weight upon the fore part of the feet." Which seems to imply that squatting doesn't necessarily left your heels from the ground. I can squat like this, but it feels unnatural unless I'm sitting on something not attached to my own body--and sitting isn't squatting, is it?

I guess it never occurred to me before how much "crouching" has in common with "squatting". I would have to say that the primary difference is crouching implies stooping. That is, for a crouch, your knees are bent, your head is down, and your shoulders are forward. And while you can lower your head and bend forward to squat, you don't have to. A crouch is also something which implies readiness to me; you can spring forward from a crouch, but not from a squat. A squat is something you can settle into for a good long time if you have to.

Whaddyall say, is that more or less how you see these terms as well? Or have I got them all hopelessly confused?

Comments

[off_coloratura]

I think "hunker" is the same as squatting, but is just a more "folksy" way of saying it.

For me the difference between crouch and stoop is that a crouch implies that you can have your hands on the ground, while a squat does not. And I also agree with you that a crouch is a position of readiness.

[itchwoot.livejournal.com]

A squat is something you can settle into for a good long time if you have to.

*snort*

I couldn't.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Aber die relevantere Frage: Ist das ja, was du unter "hocken" verstehst?

[itchwoot.livejournal.com]

Jein... "hocken" kann man auf dem Boden, auf einem Schemel oder Hocker, es ist nicht eindeutig und wird auch synonym zu "sitzen" verwendet. Man nimmt meist das Substantiv "Hocke" dazu: "in der Hocke sitzen" / "in die Hocke gehen". Oder mit Präfix vielleicht: "hinhocken".

Ich kenne aber auch den Unterschied bei den englischen Wörtern nicht... ich glaube, wir brauchen hier Bilder! :-)

[richardthinks.livejournal.com]

you crouch to spring, for sure. Or at least tigers do - my springing days are over.

Squatting with the heels on the floor is a common posture across India and there's even some anthro literature about it, in which admiring American or European anthros wish they could stay squatting for hours like the natives. Mauss? I can't remember.

I would crouch to squeeze into and move about in a low space, such as the 4' gap between the lower decks on a 17th century Dutch freighter. The 5' to 5'6" height on a 19th century barge only requires me to stoop - that is, I could straighten my legs if I needed to, but I couldn't stand up straight - my upper body and head would be bent over.

Does that help?

[vamapper.livejournal.com]

I normally think of squat as the position in weight lifting; e.g., a squat thrust. I don't see how you can't do it without your heels lifted off the ground.