heat the milk hot

Dear all,

Do you say, "I heated the milk hot" to mean "I heated the milk so that it was hot?

Thank you!

OP

No. You could say:
"I heated the milk."
"I heated the milk until it boiled."
"I boiled the milk."
Etcetera.

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Hello, Optimistic Pessimist:

Thank you SO MUCH for asking this question.

When the teacher reminded us that it is NOT correct to say something like "Heat the milk hot," I was really confused.

I thought that I had remembered many people speaking like that.

So I then did some googling and discovered my mistake.

It seems that although "Heat the milk hot" is "wrong," it is perfectly fine to say: "Heat the milk until hot."


What an interesting language English is!

TheParser said:

"Heat the milk hot" is "wrong,"

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I think it would be grammatical if 'Heat' was replaced with 'Make', but I am not a teacher.

I don't think saying "heat the milk hot" is wrong but to me, "heat" is already saying "make something hot."

Not a teacher.

mawes12 said:

I don't think saying "heat the milk hot" is wrong

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I think 'hot' is not so much wrong as redundant, but I am not a teacher.

Piscean said:

Make the milk hot is not natural.

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Why is it not natural?

Heat the milk hot is a literal translation from Chinese, and I believe, Japanese too.

Make the milk hot is a roundabout way of saying heat the milk. How else do you make milk hot?

I think 'Make the milk hot' might be used when the speaker wants it hot instead of just being warm, but I am not a teacher.

tedmc said:

Heat the milk hot is a literal translation from Chinese

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It is not.

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Of course, I am not gainsaying the excellent advice given here to international students by teachers. Their advice should be followed.

I do, however, beg leave to report that apparently some (presumably) native speakers consider "make the milk hot" to be "natural."

The "Web" section of Google has numerous instances, and the "books" section has some. Here's a sampling.

1. "Make the milk hot, place it in a dish with ...." -- WHOLESOME COOKERY (2010).

2. "Make the milk hot -- i.e., about 990 Fahr. ...." -- DIET FOR THE SICK (1912).

3. "Make the milk hot, stir in the butter and ...." -- THE WHITE HOUSE COOK BOOK (2011).

4. "[H]eat the milk and chicken stock ... just enough to make the milk hot without boiling." -- LOW COUNTRY SHE CRAB SOUP.

5. "Okay, let me go make the milk hot." -- THE HOMESTEAD (1930).

*****

I, of course, am NO model of proper English, but I (and perhaps others) would find this dialogue reasonably "natural":

Mona: Would you like anything?
James: Yes, could you get me some milk?
Mona: No problem.
James: Oh, and don't forget: please make it hot. Nothing is worse than lukewarm milk.
Mona: No problem.

990 Fahrenheit is very hot!!

TheParser said:

apparently some (presumably) native speakers consider "make the milk hot" to be "natural."

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Would some native speakers occasionally use unnatural English?

Certainly. Just listen to football pundits and commentators.

'He might could have passed sooner.'
'That's a good spell of passing between he and Rooney.'
'Hazard could of shot better.'

I think they are ungrammatical instead of unnatural, but I am not a teacher.

SoothingDave said:

990 Fahrenheit is very hot!!

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***** NOT A TEACHER *****

That's what your humble servant thought when he read it.

But being an objective and impartial journalist manque, I just copied it as it appeared.

I did not think it was my place to call it a typo.

TheParser said:

But being an objective and impartial journalist manque, I just copied it as it appeared.

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I think you could have written [sic], but I am not a teacher.

TheParser said:

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

That's what your humble servant thought when he read it.

But being an objective and impartial journalist manque, I just copied it as it appeared.

I did not think it was my place to call it a typo.

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Probably a computer scanning error. Misinterpreted the little degree symbol.

Piscean said:

When I said "It's not natural", I meant it.

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To you it might not be natural but to others like me it is natural. This is what I meant about unnecessary corrections.

I think we have to keep in mind that on this forum teachers' opinions always override any others', but I am not a teacher.

Not necessarily. Teachers often disagree, and I for one admit to being wrong on a number of occasions.