Heard vs. Listened to

Question

Today I was listening to a song while driving. If I said instead that I heard a song while driving, I think it would be understood a different way.
I was listening to a song = something I was doing intentionally. I heard a song = something I did more or less by accident.

There's no real point in bringing this up, but it might be of interest to ESL students here.
And it would be of interest to me if English-speaking AUEers outside the US disagree with me on this.
Maria Conlon

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Maria Conlon filted:
[nq:1]Today I was listening to a song while driving. If I said instead that I heard a song while driving, ... song = something I was doing intentionally. I heard a song = something I did more or less by accident.[/nq]
Was it "The Sounds Of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel?...the bit about "people talking without speaking/people hearing without listening" has been used almost since the beginning to accompany film of deaf people signing...I've always felt that the phrases would describe that process better if the verbs in each line were permuted..r

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[nq:1]Today I was listening to a song while driving. If I said instead that I heard a song while driving, ... it would be of interest to me if English-speaking AUEers outside the US disagree with me on this. Maria Conlon[/nq]
Another observation of the difference between the two verbs:

"I'm listening" means that I'm paying attention to what you are saying, although it says nothing about whether or not I understand you.

"I hear you" or "I hear what you're saying" is usually another way of expressing "I understand what you're saying."

Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com

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[nq:1]Today I was listening to a song while driving. If I said instead that I heard a song while driving, ... here. And it would be of interest to me if English-speaking AUEers outside the US disagree with me on this.[/nq]
Slightly far-fetched, but a similar distinction was made in a photography class I once took. We
were talking about how a good photographer
can "see" a good picture before it is taken
versus merely "looking" at a potential scene.
This is a skill I much admire in some photographers who I have worked with - they "see" rather than "look". The results they come up with in terms of composition, texture, and so forth, make me realize I never "saw" what they did, although I looked at the overall scene quite carefully while we were out on the same shoot.
Jitze

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[nq:1]Today I was listening to a song while driving. If I said instead that I heard a song while driving, ... here. And it would be of interest to me if English-speaking AUEers outside the US disagree with me on this.[/nq]
I agree with you, from the UK. I make the same distinction between "watched" and "saw" for TV programmes, although my old granny (born
1892) used to say she was going to "look at the television" where Iwould have used "watch".

David
I say what it occurs to me to say.
==
The address is valid today, but I change it periodically.

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[nq:2]Today I was listening to a song while driving. If ... English-speaking AUEers outside the US disagree with me on this.[/nq]
[nq:1]I agree with you, from the UK. I make the same distinction between "watched" and "saw" for TV programmes, although my old granny (born 1892) used to say she was going to "look at the television" where I would have used "watch".[/nq]
I agree with David on both points.

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While it was 18/9/03 9:01 am throughout the UK, Raymond S. Wise sprinkled little black dots on a white screen, and they fell thus:
[nq:1]Another observation of the difference between the two verbs: "I'm listening" means that I'm paying attention to what you are ... "I hear you" or "I hear what you're saying" is usually another way of expressing "I understand what you're saying."[/nq]
Where do you get that idea from? Since when has making out the sound of a word automatically constituted knowing its meaning?

Stewart.

My e-mail is valid but not my primary mailbox. Please keep replies on on the 'group where everyone may benefit.

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[nq:1]While it was 18/9/03 9:01 am throughout the UK, Raymond S. Wise sprinkled little black dots on a white screen, and they fell thus: [/nq]
[nq:2]Another observation of the difference between the two verbs: "I'm ... usually another way of expressing "I understand what you're saying."[/nq]
[nq:1]Where do you get that idea from? Since when has making out the sound of a word automatically constituted knowing its meaning?[/nq]
I got the idea from being a native speaker of American English.

"I hear you" can also mean simply "I am receiving noises that originated from you," but that usage is relatively rare compared to the other meaning which I discuss above. I used the words "is usually another way of expressing..." instead of "invariably means..." because the "receiving noises" sense was indeed a possibility.
Am I correct in supposing that a trans-Pondian difference is involved here?

Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]While it was 18/9/03 9:01 am throughout the UK, Raymond S. Wise sprinkled little black dots on a white screen, and they fell thus: [/nq]
[nq:2]Another observation of the difference between the two verbs: "I'm ... usually another way of expressing "I understand what you're saying."[/nq]
[nq:1]Where do you get that idea from? Since when has making out the sound of a word automatically constituted knowing its meaning?[/nq]
Raymond is right - in this sense, "I hear you" has nothing to do with the sound of the words, but is an idiom meaning "I understand your position". It's used to accept somebody's point of view without specifically agreeing with it. I used it earlier today.

http://tinyurl.com/nt7c

David
I say what it occurs to me to say.
==
The address is valid today, but I change it periodically.

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[nq:1]Today I was listening to a song while driving. If I said instead that I heard a song while driving, ... here. And it would be of interest to me if English-speaking AUEers outside the US disagree with me on this.[/nq]
I don't, but the following, from within the US, may be of interest:

Beats, music, pot, mysticism.
Source: Lipton 1959:27.
Itchy Dave Gelden on music and pot: "Like that's the scene, man. I'm a network. I'm a moving network of nerve endings. And jazz music gives forms to my mind, forms in sound, and its better than any psychoanalyst, because art is a healer, that's part of its function, it's a connected universe, just like the words we formed out of grunts and hollers, it organizes my universe for me that's healing, integrating, communicating. And pot is like, well it makes you aware, aware of the present, you come alive, you got eyes for the scene, man, and ears to hear with like most of the time we're listening but we're not hearing, man..."
Lipton: "The mystics talk about going into another plane of existence."
Angel Dan Davies: "But I'd want to be able to come back, every time. Back to this life, with all its insoluble problems."

Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

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[nq:2]While it was 18/9/03 9:01 am throughout the UK, Raymond ... the sound of a word automatically constituted knowing its meaning?[/nq]
[nq:1]I got the idea from being a native speaker of American English. "I hear you" can also mean simply "I ... the "receiving noises" sense was indeed a possibility. Am I correct in supposing that a trans-Pondian difference is involved here?[/nq]
Quite possibly so. I do know that "I hear you" is an emphatic affirmation in Black American English. It means "you are telling the truth, and I fully agree!" I imagine it came out of the African American church, as a form of "Amen" in response to a preacher.

But I think that is a special case. In standard American English, the distinction between "hearing" and "listening to" is that between being aware of something, and paying attention to something, respectively.
Michael West
Melbourne, Australia
(Expat Yank)

Heard vs. Listened to

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