Analyses of sentences.

Question

Alfie broke up with a girlfriend, after he knew she had went out a guy younger than me.
The following is the narration about his feelings.
Alfie: 'He's younger than you.' I've got to admit. I didn't see it coming. She caught me off-guard all right. You couldn't tell though, could you? As you've learned by now, I'm rather skilled at hiding my feelings. You see the thing with feelings, you see, they have this quiet way of sneaking up on you when you're least expecting. You know what I mean?

1. I'd like to know "You couldn't tell" means "If you were in my shoes, you couldn't tell."
2. I'd like to know what "You see the thing with feelings" means.

Thank you in advance for your help.

GPY · Accepted Answer

I don't quite understand the use of the quotation marks in that passage. Is Alfie quoting to someone else something that his ex-girlfriend said to him (Alfie)?

1. No, I don't think so. "You couldn't tell" seems to mean "You couldn't tell that I was upset because I am skilled at hiding my feelings".

2. "You see ..." is a set phrase used to introduce an explanation. The main content is "The thing with feelings [is that] they have this quiet way ..."

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Alfie broke up with a girlfriend, after he knew she had gone out a guy younger than me.

park sang joon1. I'd like to know "You couldn't tell" means "If you were in my shoes, you couldn't tell."

Alfie is saying that he did not show his feelings visibly.
If I had been looking at him, I would not have seen disappointment, shock, shame, etc. in his facial expressions, his voice, or the way he behaved.

park sang joon2. I'd like to know what "You see the thing with feelings" means.

You see - a filler expression. It is repeated again in the sentence.

"The thing with X" is a recent idiom. It is commenting on a basic property of X.

The thing with feelings:
"Don't you know the nature of feelings, how feelings work? They sneak up on you..."

Park sang joon · Answer

Thank you, GPY and AlpheccaStars, for you so very helpful answer.

I couldn't find any example of "The thing with X" related to what you defined it as.
So I'd like to get some examples of "The thing with X" to write down on my notepad, if may.

GPY · Answer

Have you tried typing "The thing with * is" into Google?

Park sang joon · Answer

Thank you, GPY, for your very useful information.

The Asterisk didn't cross my mind.
I have just tried it, but I can't pick up appropriate examples becuase of my poor English.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Here are some Google hts:
The thing with the Apple Watch is everyone thought about it wrong.

But here’s the thing with moments, we often don’t see them coming. In fact many of the “moments” that have had the most impact on our lives may not be the ones we think would. We might put a lot of emphasis on a decision like a college we attend or a job we take – but could it be much more ordinary moments that make a difference?

The thing with Surly is we know our products can stand on their own two wheels.

That’s the thing with word of mouth – you can never be sure exactly when or where or who is involved, all you can do is encourage it, then sit back and watch your blog traffic grow.

Sometimes we focus too much on the effort of it, rather than the outcome. The thing with a workout is, whilst it can be hard during, you will always feel absolutely amazing afterwards. So, if you need something to help you refocus and motivate you, just remember that post-workout high. Besides from some sore muscles, you will never regret a workout.

That’s the thing with being an advocate — it’s not necessarily easy, but it’s so tremendously important.

The thing with kids is that they just get up from their spill or accident and continue with their play.

The thing with with living here is the costs really creep up on you, and you won't realize it until you live here.

The thing with background images is that they can easily make your site look messy.

And that's the thing with comets, they're fickle beasts - a characteristic well demonstrated by the now somewhat infamous comet ISON in 2013.

Park sang joon · Answer

Thank you so much, AlpheccaStars. <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

Park sang joon · Answer

I'm so sorry for my belated question.

I'd like to know in "the thing with x" if "the thing" means "the point" in some cases rather than "property/ nature."

Analyses of sentences.

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