someone пишет: ↑25 янв 2019, 10:53
В случае nose предлог ON именно исключение, кмк.
Можно и так сказать, наверное. Только "исключение" распространённое: punch on the chin/head/jaw/... Есть немало вариантов и с punch on the face/eye/stomach/temple/arm/leg - реже, чем с IN, но всё же.
So, it seems to be a matter of '
perceived degrees of penetration'
: : "He was hit in the stomach" sounds right if he doubled over when hit, and "he was hit on the stomach" sounds right if he maintained an upright posture and firm muscles. So maybe concavity is the secret. But heads are convex . . .
: Maybe that's close. Maybe it's about penetration, or at least inward travel - and maybe "hit in the head" is the exception, being actually strictly speaking incorrect. Some credence is given to this theory, because someone is invariably "shot in the ----" or "stabbed in the ----", hence it's about penetration in those two cases. Similarly, maybe one is "punched in the stomach" because the incoming fist is liable to travel inwards to some degree. In a similar vein, maybe one is "punched in the eye" because the eye is a non-protruding body part (except in the case of the late Marty Feldman), and so the fist has to enter into the concavity of the eye socket. I'm now suspicious as to how strictly correct the no doubt widespread usage of "struck in the head" is - Isaac Newton was definitely struck *on* the head by the legendary apple, rather than *in* the head. So maybe the usage of "in the head" when talking about wayward baseball pitches is simply to overdramatise things, making the pitch similar in nature to a fired bullet. I bet it still hurts though.
I've had similar musings ... and if you consider "perceived penetration" rather than physical penetration, it all fits together. Getting hit IN the head rattles your brain, and seems, well, IN. Your eye is so central to your perception of self, you'd be hit IN the eye. Getting hit ON the shoulder has less impact, because you feel less vulnerable. The stomach can go both ways: hit hard enough, you feel as if you were hit IN the stomach. The extremities are far from your perceptual center, so you get hit ON the hand or foot, never IN. I know -- it's a crackpot theory, but I'm stickin' with it.
or, in other words,
'invasion'
In such contexts, in is more "invasive" - so all things being equal, if you smacked him in the mouth you probably caused more damage than if you smacked him on the mouth.