His rubber arm threw smoke
His rubber arm threw smoke; his control was uncanny; his windup was a wondrous machine of arms and legs and power, a beautiful thing to behold. By the time I got to Chicago and settled in as Bingo’s protégé, Dizzy was an established star, a big-time force on the American scene.

What does "His rubber arm threw smoke" mean?
Is it plain English or idiomatic?

Thanks a lot in advance

Question

His rubber arm threw smoke
His rubber arm threw smoke; his control was uncanny; his windup was a wondrous machine of arms and legs and power, a beautiful thing to behold. By the time I got to Chicago and settled in as Bingo’s protégé, Dizzy was an established star, a big-time force on the American scene.

What does "His rubber arm threw smoke" mean?
Is it plain English or idiomatic?

Thanks a lot in advance

Answer

So this is a pretty weird sentence--I'm a native English speaker and we definitely don't say this so I'll give you my best interpretation of it. I think that this is referring to the idiom "to burn rubber," which is referring to how rubber tires burn and smoke forms when the car moves really fast. So basically, the author is saying that this person's arm is "rubber" and it's moving so fast that its burning and causing smoke to form.

Hope this helps!
-Savannah

Answers · 2

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