Mayon  [More info] "It seems like a city cut off at the knees." I need your help to define  "cut off at the knees". Does it mean like "isolated", "interrupted"?  Mayon Joined on Tue, Feb 28 2006 New Member 02

	+1 nona the brit  [More info] Hard to say without knowing the city or context. Possibly a city of very short buildings? nona the brit Joined on Wed, Sep 22 2004 England Veteran Member 11,782 The name says it all.

	+1 The Mesopotamian  [More info] “Cut off at the knees” means exhausted, worn out, beaten down.  It happens to a city when a major facility such as a power plant is shut down, or when there is an economic or political crisis.  The expression is derived from sports.  When players keep falling on the ground, the skin at their knees is “cut off”, or their pants are “cut of at the knees.” The Mesopotamian Joined on Fri, Mar 17 2006 Mesopotamia New Member 11

	+1 Mayon  [More info] Thank you all! Here is the context. "Even after exploring the whole town, I'm having a tough time classifying this place. Is it a city, or a quaint little country village? It's certainly dense enough, and self-sufficient enough, what with the multitude of shopes. But as evidenced by the department store, nothing extends more than two stories high, and one mustn't forget the smattering of rice paddies here and there. I guess this place seems like a city cut off at the knees. It looks like a bunch of old people decided to get together one day to build a city, got tired of doing so about halfway through and figured what they had was already good enough." Does this mean that the city looks like "incomplete" , "unfinished"? Or, like Wendy & The Mesopotamian's suggestions, meaning "ruined", "devastated" city?  Mayon

	+1 WendyWu  [More info] The context has explained the phrase , "It looks like a bunch of old people decided to get together one day to build a city, got tired of doing so about halfway through and figured what they had was already good enough."     It is no doubt that the city is a completed and flourishing one. But the inhabitant there has no intention to make it more prosperous, so the development of the city cut off , and it became ruined day by day. WendyWu