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YoungJae Lee Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

the old man and the sea

The bird looked at him when he spoke. He was too tired even to examine the line and he teetered on it as his delicate feet gripped it fast.

“It’s steady,” the old man told him. “It’s too steady. You shouldn’t be that tired after a windless night. What are birds coming to?”

The hawks, he thought, that come out to sea to meet them.

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I can't catch the meaning of "What are birds coming to?”.
The old wanted to ask just "Birds, where are you going?". or any symbolic meaning?

Could you help me?
  

Top answer

"Come to" is idiomatic. org/dictionary/british/come-to-sth_2 Cambridge . He is teasing the birds, pretending that the race of birds is growing feeble.

— Enoon

  • "Come to" is idiomatic.
  • org/dictionary/british/come-to-sth_2 Cambridge .
  • He is teasing the birds, pretending that the race of birds is growing feeble.
  • " is a way of saying that you disapprove of the way X is changing.
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3 Answers
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"Come to" is idiomatic. http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/come-to-sth_2 Cambridge. He is teasing the birds, pretending that the race of birds is growing feeble. "What is X coming to?" is a way of saying that you disapprove of the way X is changing.
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COME TO (macmillandictionary)
[transitive] come to something to reach a particular state or point, especially one that is bad or unpleasant
If it comes to war, NATO
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YoungJae LeeThe old man thought "The birds will meet miserable (bad) end. What are their destinies?..... They will meet hawks." Am I right?
In a way. His joking question, "What are birds coming to?", is the idiomatic expression. The birds are not to be thought of as actually coming or going anywhere, even to meet a destiny. It means merely, "Birds certainly ar
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