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Does this sentence "He's too thin to carry it" make any sense to you?
This is really bothering me for quite a long time!

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What context did you hear it in? - I don't think I have ever heard it used before (Australia). – lindon fox Jun 19 '11 at 10:47
The answer to this question seems already implicit in the answer to Is saying “he's too thin to carry it (some very heavy stuff)” a euphemism? – kiamlaluno Jun 19 '11 at 11:16
Please provide context. – Marcin Jun 19 '11 at 13:10

1 Answer

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You could aid us in providing any peripheral context.

Stabbing at it as is, though, I would take it to mean that:

he is of too small a stature and / or too feeble to lift and transport what is at hand.

That is not to say that the person is generally small or feeble, that would be far too presumptuous; only that this stands relatively to what it is that requires carrying.

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Thin has a meaning of "not well fleshed," but does it also carry a meaning of "being weak or feeble"? In the Merriam-Webster, it does carry a meaning of "lacking substance of strength," but it uses "thin plot/broth" to make the example. Is it okay to say someone is to thin to do anything which needs a lot of strength? I just find it misleading to say, because thin doesn't always means weak. If you google, there is a title such as "Michael Jackson is too thin to play live." Is it OK to say so? Somebody argued that it's a euphemism to say so. – Daisy Jun 19 '11 at 10:37
thin never necessary means to be weak or lack of strengh, actually, this is an issue over which we had a violent quarrel. And I think it's never a way for native-speaker to say that and the opposition argued: 1.it's a euphemism; 2.it says there in the Merriam-Webster dic, but again, I think it only referrs to things not humans; 3.the googled and enumerated this many links to say "thin" also carries a meaning of "being weak", since none of us is native-speaker, I thought maybe, it's better to ask here, thank you for your help, the below are the links they gathered from google – Daisy Jun 19 '11 at 10:38
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@Daisy: Thin does not always mean weak, no. Thin is even an attractive quality to some people - not because they are associating it with weakness - and so to come across as if this is a derogatory term would be fallacious. When used here, in the given context, you qualify what is meant by thin for the current scenario. – Mr. Disappointment Jun 19 '11 at 10:43
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@Daisy: Each of your examples use the construct of 'too thin', this immediately tries to indicate an inferiority in circumstance, of sorts. If you think about how one might apply this as complementary then remove the 'too x to do' construct, such as: 'He's just thin enough to get into his wedding suit', or 'She's nice and thin'. – Mr. Disappointment Jun 19 '11 at 10:47
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