'Have a heart' - revisited

I would like to re-post this from my old blog.

Saturday, July 12, 2008
  
Come on ! Have a heart !

A group of words whose meaning is often different from the normal meaning is called an idiom.

Let us look at the word “heart” and how, when used differently in idioms, will give different meanings.

We know that the word ‘heart’ means an organ in our body which pumps and circulates blood in our body.

However lets look at this:

• to set your heart at rest                 - stop worrying about something
• to be soft hearted                             - to be sympathetic
• to have a heart of gold                    - to care about other people
• to have a big heart                           - to be giving, caring
• to be cold-hearted                            -lacking in sympathy , uncaring
• to cry your heart out                       - to cry a lot and feel really badly about something
• to eat your heart out                       - to be jealous of someone
• from the bottom of your heart       - to really mean something
• to have a change of heart                -to change your mind
• to have a heart                                   - to be compassionate, to care about other people
• to have your heart in your mouth   - to be scared or nervous
• to have your heart set on something - to really want something
• to be broken-hearted                       – to be sad over an ended relationship
• to have a heart-to-heart talk          – to have a serious and sincere discussion
• to get to the heart of the matter     – to get to the main point
• to take heart                                       – to be confident or courageous

Now try to figure out what the following sentences mean !:

• I didn't have the heart to tell him he'd failed.
• My grandmother has a heart of gold and is always willing to help a stranger.
• Take heart, your father will get over his illness shortly!

...or you even might say to me :

"Sir - have a heart ! You're so good at bowling and I'm alway throwing balls into the gutter ("longkang" -as popularly used), so give us a handicap of 40 points. "

...and I might reply..

"Ok..you can set your heart at rest. I'll give you 50 points handicap ! "

...and you might reply..

" Oh thank you Sir -- you have a heart of gold ."


heheheheh!  Do you know of any other example ?

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# posted by sunnyside up @ 5:29 PM 3 Comments "