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My right knee was not sore but knew I had a knee, if you know what I mean.

Struggling to interpret this, I couldn't understand the middle part of the sentence (but ~ ,) because of no subject of the verb 'knew'. Also connections between chunks of the sentence are unclear to me.

What is the subject of 'knew' and what relation does the 2nd and last phrases are in?

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My right knee was not sore but knew I had a knee, if you know what I mean.

My right knee was not sore -> My right knee didn't hurt

but (I) knew I had a knee -> but I could feel my knee (this is somewhat of a stretch)

if you know what I mean (saying this to let the listener know that you are speaking figuratively or hinting at something)

Ex.

She wasn't very smart but she was very talented in the chest area, if you know what I mean.

He is like the Michael Jordan of video games. Baseball Michael Jordan, if you know what I mean.

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  • So, in short, those second part are like figurative expressions, aren't they? But I can't get it of your explanation yet for the example I suggested. Doesn't it become I couldn't feel one of my knee even though the one on the right is ok? This is what I thought and I'm not sure what you are imagining. Besides, 'talented in the chest area' means that she is good at mental activities?
    – JBL
    Jul 19, 2016 at 9:07
  • He's saying it didn't "hurt" but he could "feel" it. Also "talented in the chest area" is referring to large breasts... Somehow spelling it out makes it way less funny.
    – Leo
    Jul 19, 2016 at 10:22
  • I have one more question. Why the subject of 'knew' is 'I' ? I never have heard leaving out a subject aside from the case of 'you'. Can you give me a detail reason? or is it just your sense?
    – JBL
    Jul 20, 2016 at 8:43
  • @JBL The ellipsis or deletion of the subject "I" is almost never seen in formal writing, but occurs sometimes in colloquial writing and speech, often in exclamatories, e.g.: "Told you so!" "Had to call her!" In the current example, even native speakers might think it odd.
    – P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica
    Jul 25, 2016 at 23:54

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