meaning in context - She was carrying twins and a bulky bag in her hands





Using verbs with multiple meanings



I am not sure if this is Indian English but the verb carry is often used in India to speak of a pregnant woman and often without an object as,



his wife was carrying when he joined the army.



So my first question is, does that sound ambiguous to a native English speaker?


If that doesn't sound ambiguous, I am sure this does.



She was carrying twins and a bulky bag in her hands.



This could mean,



1) She was carrying twins in her hands and a bulky bag.
2) She was pregnant with twins and was carrying a bulky bag in her hands.



In fact, the confusion can arise even without the bulky bag part. So my second question is, is carry a good enough word to talk about a pregnant woman?


Edit: Removed "would one be wise to avoid using it in that sense?" to make the topic more suitable for Q&A format of SE.



Answer



Yes: carry is used of pregnancy, and this is quite ordinary and understood (with context). See ODO sense 2.


However it's not a good idea to mix carry = pregnant with and carry = transport in the same sentence. You can see ODO has the first as sense 2 and the second as sense 1.



She was carrying twins and a bulky bag in her hands



has only one verb, carrying, and this should normally be in the same sense for both objects. Thus it would normally mean that she was transporting the twins as well as the bag, because she could not be pregnant with the bag.


To split the sense of carry between the two objects would be a pun (syllepsis) if done deliberately.


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