Squat? hankers down? or what?

Posted by R. Berg on December 05, 2002

In Reply to: Squat? hankers down? or what? posted by Leslie on December 05, 2002

: Hello,
: I am a non-English native speaker, and I am wondering if there's a phrase or a word in English to express the following idea. Suppose I am a teacher in a primary school, and my students and I are in the outdoors. I want my students not to stand nor to sit on the ground. What is the phrase I should use to address to my students. Should I say: "Get down!", "Lower yourselves!","Squat" or "Hankers down" or anything other than these? Do squat and hankers down mean sitting on the ground? What are their differences? The action I meant is to get your one knee bended almost on the ground, and the other bended knee is higher than the one almost on the ground. Is it squat? Can you give me some examples? Please help, thank you.

In American English, you could say "Get down on one knee." A person who squats has both feet on the ground; the two knees are off the ground and at the same height. Hunkering is squatting "close to the ground with the body leaning slightly forward, the weight resting on the calves" (American Heritage Dictionary).