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Taka Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

talk about

How come you native speakers perceive 'Talk about a hard worker!' as 'What a hard worker!'?

It's, you know, 'talk', just talking about something/someone...
  

Top answer

It is an accepted informal use, used to emphasize that something is very noticeable in the stated way: What a film - talk about boring! Talk about the weather! It has been dreadful Talk about the government!

— Feebs11

  • It is an accepted informal use, used to emphasize that something is very noticeable in the stated way: What a film - talk about boring!
  • Talk about the weather!
  • It has been dreadful Talk about the government!
  • It couldn't govern a milk cart.
  • Talk about her behaviour!
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5 Answers
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It is an accepted informal use, used to emphasize that something is very noticeable in the stated way:

What a film - talk about boring!
Talk about the weather! It has been dreadful
Talk about the government! It couldn't govern a milk cart.
Talk about her behaviour! She really should know better.
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Feebs11It is an accepted informal use, used to emphasize that something is very noticeable in the stated way:
I know. My question is about the etymology; how have you native speakers come to understand it that way?
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I doubt if anyone will be able to tell you that. It is a matter of long-term common usage, arising from people's conversational methods.
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Maybe something like "If you want to talk about X, you couldn't find a better/worse more extreme example than Y."

What a movie - talk about boring! (If you want to discuss (talk about) boring movies, this one is sure a good examle of that!)
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That's very interesting!

Thanks, GG!
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