Good word for legs

‘Shift/Move your pins, will you?’

pin

n.7 a human leg:

I’m still a little weak on my pins.

(WR Dictionary)

Well, King Edward I of England (1239-1307) was called «Longshanks», meaning «long-legged». However, the idea of «shanks» does not really fit with bending the knee; strictly speaking, the shank is the part of the leg below the knee, and doesn’t bend. However, if he is asked to move his long shanks (I would use two words in normal usage) out of the way, rather than bend them, then that would work.

This was the first thing that came to my mind.

In which year and in what social setting is the scene?

I like Trochfa’s answer!

Archduke of Hungary c. 1682: «It has been a long day boar hunting. I must lie down.»
Countess Ilona Zrínyi: ‘Budge up, daddy longlegs’

Yes, I can see how that’d work.

Archduke of Hungary c. 1682: «It has been a long day boar hunting. I must lie down.»
Countess Ilona Zrínyi: ‘Budge up, daddy longlegs’

Yes, I can see how that’d work.

You’re being sarcastic?

in a lower to middle-class context.

So you think that the Queen might not say this to the Duke of Edinburgh in the privacy of her own palace? Although he’s not a tall man, he is relative to her. Next thing you’ll be telling us is that Tupperware is only for the lower social orders.

(For those puzzled — a documentary shown on British TV some years ago revealed that the Queen has Tupperware on her breakfast table — it seems unlikely that she went to a Tupperware party to buy it.)

Archduke of Hungary c. 1682: «It has been a long day boar hunting. I must lie down.»
Countess Ilona Zrínyi: ‘Budge up, daddy longlegs’

Yes, I can see how that’d work.

Seriously, to the OP, this exchange would not seem to fit your needs. It sounds too informal and modern. Even accepting that posh/historical figures do relax their language choices behind closed doors I still think this is likely to “jar”.

this sort of phrase is really context dependent — all we have is that there is a man and a woman and the scene is not recent.

Yes. We also know that there is ‘a narrow couch’. But in which era is the scene set? What does ‘old-time Bulgarian word’ mean? Is it a word from the 1300s, 1600s, 1800s, or 1900s, or some other era? Is the setting formal, informal, semi-private or private? Is the exchange serious, humorous or romantic? That is why ‘shanks’ may be as equally out of place here in an informal more recent era as ‘budge up daddy longlegs’ is in a formal one from hundreds of years ago. We are told that the word is ‘old-time’ not that the scene is.

I actually quite like the ‘shanks’ option, but the point is that without more context we can’t tell whether or not a word or phrase is entirely suitable.

So you think that the Queen might not say this to the Duke of Edinburgh in the privacy of her own palace? Although he’s not a tall man, he is relative to her. Next thing you’ll be telling us is that Tupperware is only for the lower social orders.

(For those puzzled — a documentary shown on British TV some years ago revealed that the Queen has Tupperware on her breakfast table — it seems unlikely that she went to a Tupperware party to buy it.)

I read Watching the English by Kate Fox a few years ago, which looked at English usage by social class in England. It identified quite large similarities between the way certain English words are used by the ‘upper’ and ‘lower’ classes and how often it is the ‘middle’ classes that are actually in a world of their own. The one example I remember is the word someone uses when they haven’t heard what’s been said. Apparently the ‘upper’ and ‘lower’ classes just tend to go for the quick and simple ‘what?’, whereas the ‘[lower] middle classes’ are more likely to say ‘pardon?’ (The uppers might also say ‘sorry?’). It’s an interesting read even if you may not agree with some of it.

[I’m using ‘upper’, ‘middle’ and ‘lower’ to denote the social classes because as we have been laughingly told by those oh-so-truthful politicians we apparently live in a classless society. ]

It identified quite large similarities between the way certain English words are used by the ‘upper’ and ‘lower’ classes and how often it is the ‘middle’ classes that are actually in a world of their own.

You’re probably aware of this: U and non-U English — Wikipedia

«Altonesque» after «Alton the Giant» (the tallest man ever to live).

Of course no one will have a clue what you are talking about. (Communication is over-rated).

Robert Pershing Wadlow, The tallest man in the world who ever lived

Robert Wadlow (Born Robert Pershing Wadlow on 22 February 1918 – died 15 July 1940) is the tallest person in medical history for whom there is irrefutable evidence. He is often known as the «Alton Giant» because of his Alton, Illinois hometown.