As I noted above, by hand has a deeply established connotation of “not by means of technology.” Almost everything we commonly describe as done “by hand” also uses our hands if we employ some technology, so you could say in that case also that the word “hand” adds nothing to it. But it does, because we understand “by hand” to mean “non-technologically.”

Think of the analogous “hand sewn.” If you use a sewing machine, you’re still using your hands. And there’s no way to sew with your feet, or without using your hands in some way. So you could say that “hand” adds nothing to the “sewn” — except that it does, because it distinguishes it from “machine sewn.”

“Carried” is a little different because carried could itself imply non-technological transport, but in this case the hand adds not so much specificity, as emphasis. Think of someone saying “I made this myself.” “I made this” conveys the entire meaning, but “myself” adds emphasis and therefore clarity to the point. The “myself” is technically unnecessary, but no one would quibble with it, because it’s an accepted way of giving emphasis.

And I’d argue that regardless of what Hunter may not previously have heard, “hand-carried” has similarly been an accepted way of conveying that kind of emphasis lo these last couple of decades.

Imagine a time when we drink things that we don’t want to taste and thus want to bypass our tongues, so we plug it into a little straw-jack on our stomachs to allow nutrition to go into our system immediately? If so, then saying you mouth-drank something actually has value.

Similarly, ear-listening would contrast with listening by way of some chip implanted in your brain that you can control to access your MP3s, whose content gets sent to your brain to experience as if you’d heard sound waves.

I suppose “foot-walked” could be a contrast with methods of transportation that we want to describe as walking where we don’t use our feet. I’m having trouble imagining what that might be, though. Should we envision people walking on their hands, with some technology to make such strange behavior actually viable for transportation over a notable distance? Or maybe we could say we foot-walked rather than walking while sitting in an imperial AT-AT.

Or, Mr. Baker lives in a cave somewhere and doesn’t get out much…

I kid, of course.

When I hand carry a check today to a local church for shipment of Nicaraguan coffee I am doing so because I want to make personally sure that the funds get into the proper hands in a timely manner. ‘Hand carry’ seems to be a way of conveying the message “I (or s/he) really want to get this in the right hands at the right time and am taking the responsibility to do so…”

It’s just shorthand for “by hand” instead of “by mail” or “by fax.” “Nose smelled” sounds silly because we never say we do anything “by nose” and we never distinguish smelling by nose from smelling any other way. But we say we do things “by hand” to distinguish our actions from the use of some arm’s length technology, all the time.

:)