Discover food that feel good in your body

Question

Discover the kinds of food that feel good in your body by eating when you are hungry and stopping when your body has had enough.

I feel good. -- Okay

When using the verb "feel", I think we need an animate subject who has cognition of perception or feelings towards the surroundings. In my example sentence, I'm wondering why the food can feel good in one's body.

Can you help me this one?

Thanks,
Pastel

Just the truth · Accepted Answer

Hi Pastel,

It says something like this,

Discover the kinds of food that feel good [to you] in your body by eating ...

MrPedantic · Answer

Hello Pastel

The sentence as a whole means:

'If you eat when you are hungry, and stop eating when your body has had enough food, you will discover the kinds of food that give you a pleasant feeling when they are inside your body.'

MrP

PASTEL · Answer

The food is good [to you] in your body by...This one is easier to grasp.

The food feels good [to you] in your body by...

Err...how can food have feelings? I'm confused. Is that kind of sentence pattern like 'taste' amd 'smell'?

The cake tastes good. Here, semantic property of "taste" may require an animate subject with mouth so that it can taste. Though cakes can have a mouth in any child books, it doesn't make sense in this example sentence. By the same token, food can't feel either coldness in the outside or warmness in my heart.

Is there any special grammatical terms to cover this type of verb?

MrPedantic · Answer

Hello Pastel

It's the difference between the transitive and intransitive uses:

1. I tasted the cake (trans.) = my tongue touched the cake.
2. The cake tasted good (intrans.) = the cake had a good flavour (when someone tasted it).

Similarly:

3. I felt the dead man's hand (trans.) = my fingers touched the dead man's hand.
4. The dead man's hand felt cold (intrans.) = the hand was cold (when someone touched it).

And:

5. I smelt the rose (trans.) = I sniffed the rose.
6. The rose smelt fragrant (intrans.) = the rose was fragrant (when someone sniffed it).

These (with hear, see, etc) are verbs of the senses. Verbs of the senses are one kind of 'stative verb'.

So in your example, the food does not have feelings (as far as we know); it's an intransitive use, as in #4:

7. The food feels good = the food gives me a feeling of well-being (when it's inside my body).

On a cold day, soup will 'feel good' in the stomach. I find a hot curry 'feels very good' in my stomach. In fact I had one this evening (it's a traditional BrE foodstuff).

MrP

PASTEL · Answer

Hi! MrP,

For your information, curry--"spice," 1681, from Tamil kari "sauce, relish for rice." I don't know a hot curry is a traditional BE foodstuff. Is it soup?

Thanks for the explantions. They're detailed and good. Yes, they're called "stative verb" and now I recall. Speaking of verbs of the senses, I once read other terms somewhere, they are "sense verb", "sensing verb". "Sensing verb" sounds funny.

MrPedantic · Answer

Hello Pastel

In a recent poll, curry was voted Britain's most popular dish. It isn't a soup: you could say it was a stew with many spices. The most common BrE types of curry are Indian, though Thai curry is also popular.

'Indian' BrE curries usually have a base of onion and tomato and garlic, fried with spices and condiments such as cumin, cinnamon, chilli, fenugreek, cloves, cardamom, ginger, turmeric, fennel, etc. Then cubes of meat and/or vegetables are added, and the whole thing is allowed to simmer for as long as you want.

'Thai' BrE curry is much lighter, and doesn't use as much tomato; the characteristic spices are chilli and ginger, perhaps with garlic and lemongrass; coconut milk is often added. Fish is often used instead of meat.

There are many other kinds of BrE curry; but that should give you the general idea.

On Friday and Saturday evenings, it's traditional for British people to drink large quantities of beer or lager, and then 'go for a curry' at an Indian restaurant. After the curry, more beer is consumed.

Much prestige attaches to the choice of curry: for instance, choosing a very 'hot' curry (i.e. one with a great deal of chilli) denotes an alpha male. A 'mild' curry, on the other hand, would be regarded as slightly effeminate.

It's a curious ritual.

MrP

Nona the brit · Answer

Mr P, you've made me hungry. I could just go for a 'Ruby' right now!

MrPedantic · Answer

Me too...

PASTEL · Answer

Thanks for "Curry 101", Chef P.<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'/>

Discover food that feel good in your body

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