What does ‘in the bottom of the boat’ mean as opposed to ‘on the bottom of the boot’? I came across the phrase in the following sentence: ‘He was lying in the bottom of the boat with his eyes closed against the sun that was shining down on him’. Many thanks.
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I think “in the bottom” sounds more natural. “on the bottom” to me means the part touching the water - “There are barnacles growing on the bottom of the boat.” “Lying on the bottom of the boat” might imply that the boat was flipped over on the beach and he was lying on top of it. Which by the way, is a classic beach bum move - ha!
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Now it makes sense. It didn’t occur to me that the bottom of a boot actually has two sides - one pointing upside into the boot itself and one pointing down towards the ground.
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Very interesting. Now we have three versions:
- At the bottom of the boat
- On the bottom of the boat
- In the bottom of the boat
All of the them apparently describe different locations.
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