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SCMP Reporter

Do you know the difference between 'strip' and 'strap'?

strip (v) - take off or remove

If you strip, you take off your clothes. If you strip something from somewhere, you are removing it. If you strip someone of something, you take away something important.

strap (v) - fasten

If you strap something or someone, you fasten it or tie them in place using a string or rope.

The shaving incident follows a furore over other alleged police human rights abuses, including the release of a secretly recorded video late last year showing a woman forced to strip and do squats in front of a female officer, ostensibly to expel any hidden contraband from her body.

From an article by the Associated Press in Kuala Lumpur, published in the Post on February 6, 2006

Two million hectares of idle land have already been cleared of forest in lowland Borneo, which is suitable for planting. 'But putting this plantation in the island's centre would give logging interests the excuse they need to cut down trees.' The plantation would strip trees from Borneo's great watershed, where 14 of the island's 20 rivers rise. It threatens ecological disaster and continual flooding in settled areas and would increase forest loss tenfold.

From an article by Nick Meo, published in the Post on February 6, 2006

With the chief executive election due next year, Ms Lau said any successful attempt to bring RTHK under control would be regarded as an achievement in the eyes of Beijing. But she warned that any drastic move to strip the public broadcaster of its independence would create a social outcry.             From an article by Jimmy Cheung, published in the Post on January 23, 2006

His journey took him over North Africa, Saudi Arabia, India, China and Japan, where he crossed his midway point on Friday. Weak winds over the Atlantic and severe turbulence over India - which, at one point, forced Fossett to strap on a parachute - prompted fears the adventurer would have to ditch his record-breaking attempt in Newfoundland, Canada.

From an article by Agencies in London, published in the Post on Feb 12, 2006

At Soeung Thy's roadside stall in Phum Bek Kroang village, near Sihanoukville, the speciality is plump paddy rats drizzled in curry. Demand is so great that he hires boys to strap torches to their heads and hunt the creatures by night with bare hands and sticks. The rat season begins when the monsoon rains ease, bringing the rodents down from higher ground to feed on rice roots.

From an article by The Independent in Bangkok, published in the Post on November 15, 2004

'The two abducted Chinese engineers were in the same room with the kidnappers and still under their control,' the diplomats said. 'The kidnappers did not strap explosives to the two Chinese hostages.' In Tuesday night's talks, Abdullah Mehsud, the leader of a group of al-Qaeda-linked kidnappers, refused to order the engineers freed.

From an article by Shi Jiangtao and Reuters, published in the Post on October 14, 2004

Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the word: strip or strap.

1. The patient was told to ___________ to the waist to take a chest x-ray.

2. The mother ___________ her baby onto a special seat in her car.

3. We have to __________ off the wallpaper before putting on the new one.

4. The man ___________ two bombs to his body and got on the plane.

5. The tornado _____________ houses off the ground.

6. The airline passenger was caught with heroine packages ____________ to his thighs.

Answers: 1. strip 2. strapped 3. strip 4. strapped 5. stripped 6. strapped



'Strap' up and 'strip' the essentials