Meaning of 手足を伸ばす


My [previous
question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/97843/volitional-
form-%E3%81%8B%E3%81%A8) on the Harry Potter text below seems to have caused
some controversy which I'd like to try and understand:

> それから、少し手足を伸ばそうかと、道路のむかい側にあるパン屋まで歩いて買物に行くことにした。(official Japanese
> translation)  
>  ...when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy
> himself a bun from the bakery. (original English text)

What is it about this sentence that makes it such a bad translation?
@aguijonazo says that it sounds like Mr Dursley is going to stretch out **in**
the bakery. Is that simply because of the use of 手足 instead of 足 (as pointed
out by @sundowner) or is the problem grammatical?

The Japanese text never mentions the 'bun'. I'm assuming that's not part of
the issue here.

Finally, how would you fix the sentence (ignoring the 'bun' part which I don't
really care about)?




The main issue is the usage of 手足を伸ばす.

手足を伸ばす basically has an implication of relaxing (imagine stretching out on a
bed). See the following definition in Daijisen:

> 手足を伸ば・す  
>  ゆっくりと休む。「実家へ帰って―・す」

Since you can’t really 手足を伸ばして歩く (feels a little contradictory), to interpret
the sentence you need to link the 手足を伸ばす all the way to the situation of being
in the bakery where somehow you relax during shopping. But it’s a _stretch_.

BTW, while 足を伸ばす works slightly better because it at least can imply movement,
it isn’t perfect because it basically means to extend your journey (i.e.,
travel additionally), but there is no initial travel in this situation so it
doesn’t quite fit.

So it’s a bit of a mystery what the translator was going for IMO. It’s quite
possible they just got their idioms entirely mixed up.




The main issue is the usage of 手足を伸ばす.

手足を伸ばす basically has an implication of relaxing (imagine stretching out on a
bed). See the following definition in Daijisen:

> 手足を伸ば・す  
>  ゆっくりと休む。「実家へ帰って―・す」

Since you can’t really 手足を伸ばして歩く (feels a little contradictory), to interpret
the sentence you need to link the 手足を伸ばす all the way to the situation of being
in the bakery where somehow you relax during shopping. But it’s a _stretch_.

BTW, while 足を伸ばす works slightly better because it at least can imply movement,
it isn’t perfect because it basically means to extend your journey (i.e.,
travel additionally), but there is no initial travel in this situation so it
doesn’t quite fit.

So it’s a bit of a mystery what the translator was going for IMO. It’s quite
possible they just got their idioms entirely mixed up.

