Nightingale

[marciobarbalho]

Please teachers, could you clarify this sentence?

She's a nightingale!

I think I heard this once on a TV serie. I guess nightingale is a bird, then, what does that sentence mean?

Can a man/boy be a nightingale as well?
He's a nightingale?

Thanks a hundred

[Neillythere]

Hi marcio

Hope this helps:

Nightingale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Nightingale is slightly larger than the European Robin, at 15-16.5 cm length. It is plain brown above except for the reddish tail. It is buff to white below. Sexes are similar.
Nightingales are named so because they frequently sing at night as well as during the day. The name has been used for well over 1,000 years, being highly recognizable even in its Anglo-Saxon form - 'nihtingale'. It means 'night songstress'. Early writers assumed the female sang; in fact, it is the male. The male nightingale is known for his singing, to the extent that human singers are sometimes admiringly referred to as nightingales; the song is loud, with an impressive range of whistles, trills and gurgles. Its song is particularly noticeable at night because few other birds are singing.

PS There's a famous old song called: "A nightingale sang in Berkley Square" (London).

[Horsa]

That will depend on the exact context. The nightingale is a bird known for its beautiful singing. So one meaning is that a person referred to as a nightingale has a particularly fine singing voice. Nightingale was the surname of a nurse in the Crimean war who later campaigned for changes in the way soldiers were treated and is credited with the foundation of modern nursing. So a slang term for nurses was 'nightingales' and there was a television series some years ago about a hospital and its staff called "Nightingales". You will have to decide which fits best as an answer for your question.

[Neillythere]

Yes, Horsa. I'd forgotten about good old Florence Nightingale.
Oops. I was just "connecting the dots" and ended up with a male nurse who sings in the middle of the night! Hmmmm?

Yes, Marcio, I believe it is just possible for a man/boy to be called a nightingale, but not by me!

[marciobarbalho]

Thank you mates.

Hmm... I was hoping that slang could mean something like this:
she was watching someone else's life without permission, like a big brother TV show. She put cameras in her friend's house and then it was possible to see what that person was doing. Then a friend found out what she did and then said: She's a nightingale.

What do you think? Did I misunderstand? Is there another word "close" or similar to nightingale that can match with that description I just did.

Thank you very much

[Horsa]

I can't think of any similar word with such a meaning.

[banderas]

Originally Posted by marciobarbalho

Thank you mates.

Hmm... I was hoping that slang could mean something like this:
she was watching someone else's life without permission, like a big brother TV show. She put cameras in her friend's house and then it was possible to see what that person was doing. Then a friend found out what she did and then said: She's a scamp. or She's a little rogue.
They have nothing in common with a bird apparently but are we going in the right direction?

What do you think? Did I misunderstand? Is there another word "close" or similar to nightingale that can match with that description I just did.

Thank you very much

k

[beascarpetta]

Maybe you should have a look there
a nightingale is a
"girl who flits and flees from one guy to the next without a care of any consequences" (Urban dictionary)

[heidita]

This is very funny, I thought we were talking a bout a woman who could sing well!!!!

[marciobarbalho]

bearscarpetta, thank you so much. Now it makes some sence.