# What part of the body is "flesh"?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-part-of-the-body-is-flesh/717602
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 13, 2015, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-part-of-the-body-is-flesh/717602 "2015-04-13T23:23:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2015, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-part-of-the-body-is-flesh/717602/1 "2015-04-13T23:23:52Z")
It’s sort of confusing since sometimes it’s used as a synonym for skin, and sometimes it’s used to mean somebody’s insides. Generally it would not mean organs or bones, though.
Do you think flesh = soft tissue and is a collective term for skin, muscle, fat and anything else that’s not bone or an internal organ?
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### Author:  [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2015, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-part-of-the-body-is-flesh/717602/2 "2015-04-13T23:29:10Z")
I think think anything we would think of as meat would also be considered flesh including the skin and some fat.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2015, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-part-of-the-body-is-flesh/717602/3 "2015-04-13T23:32:11Z")
Either muscle specifically, or all soft tissue in general, depending on the context. “Only a flesh wound” means that it was only muscle, not any organs, so it’s not life-threatening.
Or, of course, it can metaphorically be uncovered skin.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2015, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-part-of-the-body-is-flesh/717602/4 "2015-04-13T23:34:58Z")
You can start by excluding the blood. Go from there.
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### Author:  [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2015, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-part-of-the-body-is-flesh/717602/5 "2015-04-14T00:11:57Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Either muscle specifically, or all soft tissue in general, depending on the context. “Only a flesh wound” means that it was only muscle, not any organs, so it’s not life-threatening.
>
> Or, of course, it can metaphorically be uncovered skin.
ditto
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2015, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-part-of-the-body-is-flesh/717602/6 "2015-04-14T00:54:16Z")
It depends upon the context. Generally speaking—“flesh wound”—I would consider it to be skin, muscle, and fat. Organs (other than skin) are not flesh.
However, in a broader context—say, “I do not eat the flesh of animals”—I would include internal organs.
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### Author:  [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2015, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-part-of-the-body-is-flesh/717602/7 "2015-04-14T09:03:36Z")
> [@Acsenray](#):
>
> It depends upon the context. Generally speaking—“flesh wound”—I would consider it to be skin, muscle, and fat. Organs (other than skin) are not flesh.
>
> However, in a broader context—say, “I do not eat the flesh of animals”—I would include internal organs.
Interesting. Could it even include bone?
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### Author:  [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2015, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-part-of-the-body-is-flesh/717602/8 "2015-04-14T09:08:38Z")
I’m sure you could make a very clever wordplay/joke in some poem or book or whatever by intimating that someone does “not eat the flesh”, but shows them chowing down on gallbladders or sucking bone marrow.
However, it would be clever because it’s subverting expectations that “not eating the flesh” tends to imply not eating other parts either. I’d call it a bit of synecdoche, but it’s definitely aided by the fact that “flesh” is a pretty fuzzy term to begin with.
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### Author:  [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2015, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-part-of-the-body-is-flesh/717602/9 "2015-04-14T09:13:16Z")
> [@Jragon](#):
>
> I’m sure you could make a very clever wordplay/joke in some poem or book or whatever by intimating that someone does “not eat the flesh”, but shows them chowing down on gallbladders or sucking bone marrow.
>
> However, it would be clever because it’s subverting expectations that “not eating the flesh” tends to imply not eating other parts either. I’d call it a bit of synecdoche, but it’s definitely aided by the fact that “flesh” is a pretty fuzzy term to begin with.
Right … a bit like how the entire Netherlands has come to be known as “Holland” to some.
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### Author:  [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2015, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-part-of-the-body-is-flesh/717602/10 "2015-04-14T12:05:28Z")
> [@kayaker](#):
>
> You can start by excluding the blood. Go from there.
Thanks, Portia.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2015, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-part-of-the-body-is-flesh/717602/11 "2015-04-14T13:46:06Z")
> [@protoboard](#):
>
> > [@Acsenray](#):
> >
> > It depends upon the context. Generally speaking—“flesh wound”—I would consider it to be skin, muscle, and fat. Organs (other than skin) are not flesh.
> >
> > However, in a broader context—say, “I do not eat the flesh of animals”—I would include internal organs.
>
> Interesting. Could it even include bone?
I wouldn’t think that bone is included, or else we wouldn’t have the phrase “skin (a.k.a. flesh) and bone.”
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### Author:  [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2015, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-part-of-the-body-is-flesh/717602/12 "2015-04-14T13:57:42Z")
> [@protoboard](#):
>
> Right … a bit like how the entire Netherlands has come to be known as “Holland” to some.
Including a lot of people who live there.