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> If you are a native speaker, rarely. Otherwise, all the freaking times (for the first ten years or so). Not a native speaker. Not my experience at all. In fa
by kaoD 11y ago
> If you are a native speaker, rarely. Otherwise, all the freaking times (for the first ten years or so).
Not a native speaker. Not my experience at all. In fact, from my experience watching people learn English around me (and teaching some of them), reusing concepts like this actually helps them get the meaning because they can relate to words they know.
Maybe it's because such metaphors are pervasive in my native language too?
> E.g., consider the difference between a "cool guy" and a "cool attitude". If you think about it, they describe almost totally opposite situations.
I don't see how they're opposite. Hot-headed people (see how the metaphor is still at play?) aren't considered cool at all.
> Or consider "No, it's cool." After all, "it's hot" means the temperature is high.
What do you mean? "It's cool" = "the situation isn't hot". You don't have to worry about being burnt (again, same metaphor) by the situation.
- yongjik 11y agoMaybe your native language has metaphors similar to English, or maybe your friends are better at learning English than my friends. :P But my point is that many metaphors look "natural" only after you learn it: you have to memorize them, and you think it's natural only because you've been doing it all your life. E.g., "hot-headed" is a decidedly English metaphor. In Korean, "his head is getting hot" would mean he's getting annoyed/angry at the present situation, not that he has a propensity for getting annoyed in general (which is what English "hot-headed" means). Similarly, English "cool" doesn't just mean "the situation isn't hot."; it also implies a positive situation. In contrast, you can say "The show only received a lukewarm reception.", but you can't say "It's OK, he was lukewarm about the mishap." As another example, in Korean, you "turn blue" when you're shocked/aghast, not when you're gloomy. All this stuff is basically a minefield of subtle misunderstandings.
- kaoD 11y agoYeah but, once you memorize them, the metaphors are pervasive and follow common patterns. I think having a similarly-metaphorical language helps taking cues from context. I haven't seen it taking ten years or so to memorize them. Phrasal verbs on the other hand? A nightmare! I've been speaking English "fluently" for more than 15 years and I still struggle with them. There's definitely some overlap of metaphors in western languages though, and English culture influence over western media helps establishing those metaphors too (we don't use "blue" as "sad" in our language, but it's not hard for us to relate to it since it's in so many songs).