[Vocabulary] Is this natural sounding?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Csika

Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Hungarian
Home Country
Hungary
Current Location
Hungary
Could anyone please tell me if this conversation is lifelike/natural sounding or not?

Customer to waiter: Excuse me!
Waiter: Yes, madam ...
Customer: I ordered hot coffee and look at that: it is really hot. (said in an ironic tone)

Thank you very much.

Pal
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
Could anyone please tell me if this conversation is lifelike/natural sounding or not?

Customer to waiter: Excuse me!
Waiter: Yes, madam ...
Customer: I ordered hot coffee and look at that: it is really hot. (said in an ironic tone)

Thank you very much.

Pal

It's a very odd conversation. For a start, most people wouldn't order "hot coffee". They either order "coffee" or "iced coffee". I don't understand the irony. Is the cup of coffee incredibly hot or practically cold?
 

Csika

Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Hungarian
Home Country
Hungary
Current Location
Hungary
Hi! The coffee is not hot. How about this one:

Customer to the waiter: Excuse me!
Waiter: Yes, madam …
Customer: I ordered hot coffee but there’s some problem with it.

Waiter: What is it, madam?

Customer: It is hot. (said in an ironic tone)
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
[strike]Hi![/strike] The coffee is not hot. How about this one:

Customer to the waiter: Excuse me!
Waiter: Yes, madam …
Customer: I ordered hot coffee but there’s some problem with it.

Waiter: What is it, madam?

Customer: It is hot. (said in an ironic tone)

I'm actually now more confused. If the coffee is not hot, the customer would not say "It is hot". This is not ironic or sarcastic or remotely amusing. It just doesn't make sense.

Note that when you copy and paste text, the formatting gets messed up. Before you post, make sure the spacing doesn't appear incorrectly.
 

Barb_D

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
The real way this would happen is that the customer would simply say "This coffee isn't hot. Could I get a fresh cup, please?"
Being sarcastic with your waiter is immature and unhelpful.
 

Csika

Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Hungarian
Home Country
Hungary
Current Location
Hungary
I see this is odd. What type of food/drink do people like (to drink/eat) hot?
 

Raymott

VIP Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Australia
Current Location
Australia
Hi! The coffee is not hot. How about this one:

Customer to the waiter: Excuse me!
Waiter: Yes, madam …
Customer: I ordered hot coffee but there’s some problem with it.

Waiter: What is it, madam?

Customer: It is hot. (said in an ironic tone)
No, there's no possible way that either of them makes any sense. Saying "It is hot" about a cold cup of coffee doesn't work on any level in English.

Maybe:
Customer: I ordered hot coffee but there’s a problem with it.
Waiter: What is it, madam?

Customer: Is it hot? (said in an ironic tone)

Customer: I ordered hot coffee but there’s a problem with it.
Waiter: What is it, madam?

Customer: If this is hot, I'm glad I didn't order the iced coffee! (said in an ironic tone) - A bit silly, but so are all the other comebacks I can think of.

 

Csika

Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Hungarian
Home Country
Hungary
Current Location
Hungary
All right. Can you think of any situation in which 'It is (really) hot' can sound ironic? If not food/drink ... what else?

Except the weather.
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
All right. Can you think of any situation in which 'It is (really) hot' can sound ironic? If not food/drink ... what else?

Except the weather.

Not really, no. If you ordered something hot and it turned up cold, you would either take the sensible route and say "My food/drink is cold. Please take it away and bring me a hot one" or you would be overly, spectacularly sarcastic and say something like "I ordered hot apple pie. My god - you weren't kidding were you? It's nuclear! It's absolutely scalding. No, seriously, I can't even touch it. I'd need asbestos fingers. Was this apple pie forged in the fires of Mount Doom?! Oh, no, hang on, let me try that again. It's cold. Stone cold. Practically dead."
 

Raymott

VIP Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Australia
Current Location
Australia
All right. Can you think of any situation in which 'It is (really) hot' can sound ironic? If not food/drink ... what else?
Yes, you could set up a scenario where that would work. But you'd need a contextual setting, and a dialogue that leads up to that response as being ironic, etc. If you have the right setting, almost anything can be ironic. I can't think of a scene right now. I don't write sitcoms.

OK, how about:
A: How's your hot dog?
B: It's really hot.
 

Raymott

VIP Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Australia
Current Location
Australia
A: How's your hot dog?
B: It's hot in name only.

Customer: "I asked for a hot black coffee."
Waitress: (Tries the coffee): "Two outta three ain't bad"
 

Csika

Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Hungarian
Home Country
Hungary
Current Location
Hungary
I got it! I will not blame a waiter but a coffee machine! What is the most common name for those machines? I mean machines that you can find in the halls of public buildings, etc. Coffee vending machines?
 
Last edited:

Csika

Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Hungarian
Home Country
Hungary
Current Location
Hungary
This is the situation. Can anyone please see any grammatical mistakes in it? Is the conversation natural?

Consider the following situation in which Mike invites his colleague, Jane, for a hot black coffee from a vending machine. Mike does not drink coffee, he drinks ice tea. There seems to be some problem with the machine but they do not know. When Jane’s coffee turns out to be anything but hot, the following exchange occurs:

Jane: Mike, you said I’d get a hot black coffee.
Mike: I did. What is it?
Jane: It’s absolutely hot. (in an ironic, playful tone)

Thank you very much.
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
I'm not sure how many other ways we can explain that simply saying "It's really/very/absolutely/incredibly hot" when the drink is cold is not ironic and it's not funny. It's pointless.
This thread is going nowhere.
 

Csika

Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Hungarian
Home Country
Hungary
Current Location
Hungary
I disagree. I think it IS/can be ironic (depending on a lot of factors like prosody, etc.) and don't think it is pointless.
 

5jj

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
I disagree. I think it IS/can be ironic (depending on a lot of factors like prosody, etc.) and don't think it is pointless.
Disagree as much as you like. Native speakers of BrE, AmE and AusE have told you what they think, and yet you seem to think you know better. Go away and set up your own site to spread your strange opinions. This thread is closed.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top