Shanks's Pony Means Walking
The shank is the lower leg, and a cut of meat from it. An old idiom uses it to mean travelling on foot.
The shank is the lower part of the leg between knee and ankle, and by extension the narrow part of a tool or bone. *Shanks's pony* is an old joke about transport: if you cannot afford a horse, you travel on your own shanks. The phrase is recorded from the 1700s in Scotland and northern England, sometimes as *shanks's mare*. In butchery the shank is a tough cut from the leg, best cooked long and slow, as in *osso buco* or a braised lamb shank.
- The lower leg. *A strong shank.*
- A meat cut. *Lamb shank.*
- A tool's narrow part. *The shank of a drill bit.*
- Shanks's pony — on foot. *Shanks's pony.*
- Old English — *sceanca*. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | shank | The shank. |
| Plural | shanks | Shanks. |
| Verb | shank | He shanked it. |
| Phrase | shanks's pony | Shanks's pony. |
| Old English | sceanca | Leg. |
- Braise the lamb shanks slowly.Cooking.
- We went by shanks's pony.Idiom.
- He shanked his tee shot.Golf.
Shank in different trades
- Butchery — the leg cut, tough and full of flavour
- Golf — to strike the ball with the club's hosel, sending it sideways
- Shoemaking — the narrow part of the sole under the arch
- Engineering — the plain part of a bolt or drill bit
- Buttons — the small loop on the back of a shank button
Old English *sceanca*, the leg or shin bone, of Germanic origin.
What does shanks's pony mean?
Travelling on foot. The joke is that your own legs are the horse you can afford.
Why is the meat cut called a shank?
Because it comes from the lower leg. It is tough and needs long slow cooking, as in osso buco.