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HSS Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

Unable

Please help me know the connotation of "unable to stomach the thought of eating" out of the passage below. As I read on, I thought the author was still putting up with his hunger, but then it was like "I still wasn't hungry." Had he eaten? Does "unable to stomach the thought of eating" actually tell you that he ate?


I drove on through Burlington, Greenboro, and Winston-Salem. Aside from a single gas stop earlier in the day where I'd also picked up a bottle of water, I pressed forward, sipping water but unable to stomach the thought of eating. The photograph of my father and me lay on the seat beside me, and every now and then I would try to recall the boy in the picture. Eventually I turned north, following a small highway that wound its way through blue-tipped mountains speading north and south, a gentle swell in the crust of the earth.

It was late afternoon by the time I pulled the car to a stop and checked into a shabby motel just off the highway. My body was stiff, and after taking a few minutes to stretch, I showered and shaved. I put on a clean pair of jeans and a T-shirt and debated whether or not to get something to eat, but I still wasn't hungry.
Any and all help would be welcome.

Hiro/ Sendai, Japan
  

Top answer

The phrase 'unable to stomach the thought of eating' can be paraphrased as 'can't even think of eating'. Means that it makes you sick when you think of eating. Maybe because of what he saw or did - I'm not sure - the context should help you.

— MichalS

  • The phrase 'unable to stomach the thought of eating' can be paraphrased as 'can't even think of eating'.
  • Means that it makes you sick when you think of eating.
  • Maybe because of what he saw or did - I'm not sure - the context should help you.
  • Maybe he was punched in the stomach and it's hurting him when he eats Notice that stomach is a verb here and means 'to tolerate'.
  • So my answer is no, it doesn't mean that he ate.
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7 Answers
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The phrase 'unable to stomach the thought of eating' can be paraphrased as 'can't even think of eating'. Means that it makes you sick when you think of eating.

Maybe because of what he saw or did - I'm not sure - the context should help you. Maybe he was punched in the stomach and it's hurting him when he eats
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Thanks, Michal. It really figures up. So, it could also be paraphrased as "I couldn't stand the idea of eating," or "I hate to eat now,"couldn't it?
[1] I was unable to stomach the thought of eating the food.

[2] I was unable to stomach eating the food.
Could you make sense saying [2]?
Hiro/ Sendai, Japan
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Roughly yes but remember to stick with a tense. Don't mix past with present and present with past.

So:

1) I was unable to stomach the thought/idea of eating.
2) I couldn't stand/bear the thought/idea of eating.

They both mean roughly the same. "I hate to eat now" means that you don't want to eat now but somebody makes you to, like your parents. So it's differ
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Gee, I was a total space cadet! I unwittingly mixed the present and the past.
Any native speaker, could you gauge the naturalness of [2]?
Thanks,
Hiro/ Sendai, Japan
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Hi guys,
I think you are possibly confusing the issue a little by considering the idiom 'unable to stomach something' in the context of food, because food involves the stomach.

Here are a few examples of the phrase where no food is involved.

Mary was unable to stomach the idea of marrying Tom.
Mary was unable to stomach marrying Tom.
Mary was unable t
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Hi Clive,

But we have in the text "unable to stomach the thought of eating" Emotion: smile So the idiomatic expression "to stomac
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Hi,
Fine.
I just wanted to make sure other readers didn't get the wrong idea.

Cliveno-one
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