lame in/of

[Untaught88]

Hi,

He's lame in/of one leg.

Which preposition is used?

 

[GoesStation]

"In". Lame is rarely used except for horses, at least in American English.

 

[andrewg927]

Besides, "lame" sounds very negative when used to a person.

 

[GoesStation]

I fixated on the original meaning of "lame", meaning "having an injured leg". Nowadays "lame" can be used about people as a slangy pejorative meaning hopelessly bad at something, or just useless in general.

 

[Tdol]

You could avoid this by saying that he walks with a limp.

 

[emsr2d2]

You could avoid this by saying that he walks with a limp.

However, the OP needs to bear in mind that walking with a limp can be caused by something other than lameness in one leg. Back problems, for example, can cause someone to walk with a limp even though there's nothing wrong with either leg.