red shining candles

Hi,

What is the meaning of "red shining candles"?

1. the color of the candles is red and the candles are burning brightly.

2. the candles are burning brightly and the light that is emitted from the candle seems red.

I guess both are right and you decide the meaning from the context.

Thanks in advance.

I'm sure the light itself is not red. Using "shining" to describe a flame is not usual. I suspect that the candles themselves are red in color and have a shiny surface.

Thank you, SoothingDave.

Let me ask you what you say to describe a candle that emits bright light when being lit.

Thanks in advance.

taked4700 said:

Thank you, SoothingDave.

Let me ask you what you say to describe a candle that emits bright light when being lit.

Thanks in advance.

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Normal.

I may have spoken too broadly. It just struck me as odd. I think you could describe the candles as "shining" or "brilliant." But I would not do so at the same time I was calling them "red" as was done in your original sentence.

"The red candles were shining" sounds fine to me. "There were red, shining candles" does not.

Since the "shining" is really describing the flame and not the candle, stacking the adjectives "red" and "shining" together introduces confusion.

As you asked, it makes it seem like the flame is red. The candle is red, the flame is shining.

Excuse my confusion.

"A brightly shining candle" is idiomatic to mean a candle that emits bright light when being lit.

Is this correct?

Thanks in advance.

Yes.

taked4700 said:

Excuse my confusion.

"A brightly shining candle" is idiomatic to mean a candle that emits bright light when being lit.

Is this correct?

Thanks in advance.

Click to expand...

SoothingDave said:

Yes.

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:-? BNC has no instances of 'brightly shining + <noun>'. COCA does have 7, none of them 'candle'. (Of course, language is much more productive than any corpus can be...)

In Br Eng, rather than talking about 'a brightly shining candle' we talk about 'a candle burning brightly'.

b

"BNC has no instances of 'brightly shining + <noun>'."

Does this mean BNC doesn't recognise "brightly shining star/light/lamp"?

Regards
R21

Route21 said:

"BNC has no instances of 'brightly shining + <noun>'."

Does this mean BNC doesn't recognise "brightly shining star/light/lamp"?

Regards
R21

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No it doesn't. But I'd expect something described as 'idiomatic' to appear there. Generally, a corpus doesn't (and can't) recognize things, it just records them. A native-speaker couldn't say 'Good grief, I've stopped speaking English. What I've just said isn't in BNC!' If s/he could, it would mean BNC was infinitely big. ;-)

b

No it doesn't, although if something was idiomatic I'd expect it to show up in this sort of corpus. Corpora, generally, don't recognize things; they just record things. If I could say

Afterthought: I just happened to be using BNC and COCA today, and while I was there I looked at the relative frequencies of 'shining brightly' versus 'brightly shining' in the two corpora. BNC (the smaller of the two) has 13/0; COCA (much bigger, and including AE usage) has 56/8. This is not to say that 'brightly shining' is wrong, or even less acceptable; but it occurs less frequently. My WAG ('wild guess' with a silent A) is that some word used by immigrants to the USA (Chinese? - dunno; my education is seriously flawed in that area ;-)) translates as 'brightly shining', which would account for that order being more common in AE (1 in 7) than in BE (negligble).

b

Maybe WAG doesn't have a silent "A"?

WAG - What does WAG stand for? Acronyms and abbreviations by the Free Online Dictionary.

Regards
R21

Yes. Mine was the Bowdlerized version.

While I was there, I noticed that another meaning of WAG was'wife and girlfriend'. That's interesting (at least, I find it so). The abbreviation started life on itineraries for touring parties; it was 'WAGs' - wives and grilfriends: for example 'Dinner with FIFA officials: WAGs invited'.

Recently - my guess is that it's happened in the last 20 years - it's become a recognized career path (not just 'marrying a rising star' - which has been going on for millennia - but coming an appendage of a sportsman [I don't think sportwomen have the same pulling power ;-)]). A girl can say (lamentably) 'I want to be a WAG when I grow up'. Or, to quote a recent (UK) TV ad 'When you're a WAG doors just open.' So WAG has become singular - as in that dictionary definition.

b

Interesting. We have "significant others." "Wives and girlfriends" would be a thoughtcrime here, excluding homosexuals.

There is also the SWAG, the "scientific wild a#$ guess."