What's the meaning of wall fire

[gxiang]

i read a sentence: Save it on heating; do without a wall fire if you can. But i can't make sense of it. i checked the dictionary, but there was no such term. can you help me with this.

another question is like this:
we can say: it is a shame not to protect the poor from poverty. but can we say : it is shameful not to protect the poor from poverty. ?

[Curious Cat]

Seems there's a misprint or just a wrong word in your first sentence. Wall fire is the fire that crawls the walls, as far as I can understand this phrase Of course it's better to do without it
It probably should be "fire wall" here, that it heat insulation. Then the sentence gets clear.

As to the second question, to me both variants sound ok, but mind please, that I'm not a native speaker

[Casiopea]

do without a wall fire if you can. But i can't make sense of it.

Could it be in reference to a fireplace, a recess in the wall?

can we say : it is shameful not to protect the poor from poverty?

Yes. shameful is an adjective. It means, disgraceful, scandalous.

It's shameful that, in this day and age, people are poor. (adjective)
=> It's disgraceful

It's a shame that, in this day and age, people are poor. (noun)
=> It's distressing

[Curious Cat]

Aha, then "shameful" and "a shame" can replace each other in this context, but with a slight change in the meaning, do I get it right, Casiopea?

[Casiopea]

Meow. (Yes)

[Curious Cat]

Thanks!

Meow

[Temico]

it is a shame not to protect the poor from poverty.

This sentence doesn't make much sense to me. It sounds similar to "It is a shame to protect the rich from luxury." I think it would be better written as:-

a) It is a shame not to protect the poor from extreme poverty.
b) It is a shame not to help the poor alleviate their poverty.
c) It is a shame not to protect the people/underpriviledged from poverty.

[Casiopea]

Good point, Temico, and I agree. Mind you, it's the semantics - maybe even the p-p-p alliteration - of "protect the poor from poverty" that has me somewhat wincing, but that's another topic.