under obligation

Hi,

What do you think? Is it the mother or the kids who are under obligation here?

"My kids just have to eat their cereals with chocolate milk. At first, I refused to let them, but in the end I caved in."

No mother in her right mind wants her kids to use chocolate milk on their cereal.

The mother is sayi

Clive
The mother is saying that the children strongly want to eat this. In this context, I feel that there's an implication that the compulsion is forced on them by an outside agency, eg TV advertising, which makes children 'want' all kinds of unhealthy types of food.

Best wishes, Clive

Interesting reading. I saw it as the mother expre

the mother or the kids who are under obligation

Neither. Replace just have to eat with insist on eating and you've got it.
The kids put up a fuss if they're not allowed to have the chocolate milk.
The mother may feel beleaguered, but not under obligation.
There may be a residual tinge of obligation hidden somewhere in this expr

<Neither. Replace just have to eat with insist on eating and you've got it.>

Beleaguered is not a word I find compelled to use often.

Isn't obligation implied there if said by the member of the family who does the cooking?

I sense only the fake-obligation I mentioned earlier, somewhat similar to the fake-obligation of

Everybody's talking about that film. I must / ('ll) have to see it soon.

or

You must / ('ll) have to come and visit us again.

Why is it fake-obligation if concerned with, let's say, a wife's duties in a family who clearly state that those duties are to be carried out by her.

If one is compelled to do something, is that fake-obligation?

<If you think insisting implies the imposition of an obligation, then I suppose obligation is implied as you suggest.>

In disc

Let's change the terms of reference a little:

1. My son just has to eat his quails' eggs with Heinz tomato ketchup. At first, I wouldn't let him; but in the end I gave in.

Now when I was very small, I liked to put ketchup on things. I can safely say that this wasn't the result of tv advertising. I just liked the taste of ketchup.

What is the purpose of the sentence? To

<Now when I was very small, I liked to put ketchup on things. I can safely say that this wasn't the result of tv advertising. I just liked the taste of ketchup. >

Were the quails eggs a result of TV advertising.

Then you might have to go back to the psychology books and read about drives.

No doubt.

But if a compulsion (or strong personal preference) can be described as "external", what phenomena would you describe as "internal"?

MrP

Milky
Then you might have to go back to the psychology books and read about drives. Driven by... (passive)

The belief that our "drives" and "inner compulsions" are literally (as opposed to metaphorically) "external" is of course quite common; and "driven by" does express that interpretation. We can find it in the medieval belief in demons,