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What is the difference between prendere in braccio and prendere un braccio ?

Here's the context where I encountered the both expressions. It is from a campaign against child violence:

Ogni giorno il mio papà torna a casa, mi prende un in braccio, mi dà un bacalcio e mi dice che sono stupidoendo.

I understand prendere in braccio, but what does the other expression mean in this situation. Sorry for not including the above passage in the original version of the question, but I wasn't aware that it is so problematic.

april
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Rafał Gruszczyński
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1 Answers1

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In this context, "prendere [un bambino] in braccio" means "to hold [a child] in someone's arms" (as in egreg's comment); "prendere un braccio" means "to grab an arm", implying that the gesture is violent.

  • ... but if you are employed in a doll's factory it is a very common sentence without violence implications – rosco Feb 20 '14 at 07:42
  • actually "hold in one's arms" is "tenere in braccio", rather than "prendere in braccio" – Walter Tross Feb 20 '14 at 10:15
  • @WalterTross True, of course, in this case the sense of the sentence doesn't change much though. You can also say "pick up [a child] into one's arms". –  Feb 20 '14 at 18:28