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Mitsuo23 Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
Meaning of this "fall upon"
Hi,
The sentence below is from a book. Would you tell me the meaning of fell upon in the context?
(The author has a lisp issue)
I failed to see the hissy s asa solution to the problem and continued to talk normally, at least at home, where my lazy tongue fell upon equally lazy ears. At school, where every teacher was a potential spy, ………….
Thank you,
M
The sentence below is from a book. Would you tell me the meaning of fell upon in the context?
(The author has a lisp issue)
I failed to see the hissy s asa solution to the problem and continued to talk normally, at least at home, where my lazy tongue fell upon equally lazy ears. At school, where every teacher was a potential spy, ………….
Thank you,
M
Top answer
mitsuwao23 where my lazy tongue fell upon equally lazy ears. I'd call "to fall upon" an idiom. ) "Deaf ears" is figurative in my example.
- mitsuwao23 where my lazy tongue fell upon equally lazy ears.
- I'd call "to fall upon" an idiom.
- ) "Deaf ears" is figurative in my example.
- I believe the usage you quote is a deliberate "perversion" of the one I quote.
- ) This is probably a different idiom.
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7 Answers
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mitsuwao23where my lazy tongue fell upon equally lazy ears.I'd call "to fall upon" an idiom.
A very common usage is "My words fell upon deaf ears." (My intended recipients were not "getting" my message.)
"Deaf ears" is figurative in my example.
I believe the usage you quote is a deliberate "perversion" of the one I quote.
I've
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Thank you for the reply.
Would you rephase the underlined part without the idiom?
I think I understood your quote but "my lazy tongue (with a lisp) fell upon equally deaf ears" makes no sense to me.
Thank you,
M
Would you rephase the underlined part without the idiom?
I think I understood your quote but "my lazy tongue (with a lisp) fell upon equally deaf ears" makes no sense to me.
Thank you,
M
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The defect in his speech was equal in magnitude to the defect in his listeners' hearing. (or vice versa)
(Therefore the message was not received.)
The deafness of his listeners is figurative.
The implication is that they were unwilling to make the necessary effort to understand him.
(Therefore the message was not received.)
The deafness of his listeners is figurative.
The implication is that they were unwilling to make the necessary effort to understand him.
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Ohhh, I got it.
I was idiotically thinking the line meant like my lazy tongue fell upon equally my deaf ears.
Thank you for your help, I could understand it.
M
I was idiotically thinking the line meant like my lazy tongue fell upon equally my deaf ears.
Thank you for your help, I could understand it.
M
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I think it suggests that at home no one really cared if he lisped, or if he was doing the speech exercises he was supposed to do. At school, teachers were observing him closely to see how he was progressing.
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khoffI think it suggests that at home no one really cared if he lisped, or if he was doing the speech exercises he was supposed to do.Hi, Khoff,
You're probably right.
I had trouble parsing the context, and I'm afraid I ignored some of it.
How do you take ". . . . and continued to talk normally, at least at home . . . . " ?
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