heart out

[CarloSsS]

I came across the phrase "eat your heart out". The basic meaning is this:

Look at him dance! Eat your heart out, Fred Astaire (= he dances even better than Fred Astaire). (by courtesy of OALD)

This is clear to me. However, I came across other, more "playful", usage of this phrase:

He got up on the stage and sang his heart out. (He sang with a lot of energy and enthusiasm?)
My wife shopped her heart out and I had to carry the bags. (She bought a lot of things?)
Go ahead and eat your heart out! (Meaning eat as much as you please whatever you please?)


Is my understanding of the three sentences (in parentheses) more or less correct?

 

[Tdol]

Yes

 

[charliedeut]

Yes.

Please remember to use proper punctuation at the end of your answers/phrases/sentences. :lol:

 

[billmcd]

I came across the phrase "eat your heart out". The basic meaning is this:

Look at him dance! Eat your heart out, Fred Astaire (= he dances even better than Fred Astaire). (by courtesy of OALD)

This is clear to me. However, I came across other, more "playful", usage of this phrase:

1) He got up on the stage and sang his heart out. (He sang with a lot of energy and enthusiasm?)
2) My wife shopped her heart out and I had to carry the bags. (She bought a lot of things?)
3) Go ahead and eat your heart out! (Meaning eat as much as you please whatever you please?)


Is my understanding of the three sentences (in parentheses) more or less correct?

More or less correct? Well, I'm going to go with "less". First, in your "Astaire" example, the phrase suggests to the listener that he/she should feel free to be envious of Astaire's performance. And the phrase is usually used in that way/for that purpose. On the other hand, your other examples would take on a different meaning as, "to the fullest". However, I would not use you expression in 2) not only for the expense :-D but because it just doesn't fit well with shopping. In 3), it doesn't work because you used "eat...." for other than its typical/usual meaning.

 

[Tdol]

Please remeber to use proper punctuation at the end of your answers/phrases/sentences. :lol:

Remeber? :-D

 

[5jj]

More or less correct? Well, I'm going to go with "less". First, in your "Astaire" example, the phrase suggests to the listener that he/she should feel free to be envious of Astaire's performance.

Not for me. Eat your heart out means to me 'be envious, you can't match that'. It is Astaire who is being addressed.

 

[BobK]

Not for me. Eat your heart out means to me 'be envious, you can't match that'. It is Astaire who is being addressed.

:up:

I was surprised by the OALD example. I didn't know Fred Astaire was the traditional addressee. I thought the speaker for the one occasion when I heard it (at the ADC Theatre in the early '70s) was being original. (It was the star of a student production of Dames at Sea, in an aside; and the trainee luvvies laughed like drains.)

b

 

[charliedeut]

Remeber? :-D

Yes. Now you will surely remember this thread for a longer time :lol:

Seriously, duly edited. :up:

 

[billmcd]

Not for me. Eat your heart out means to me 'be envious, you can't match that'. It is Astaire who is being addressed.

Oops! Yes, I overlooked the fact that it was Astaire who was being spoken to.

 

[CarloSsS]

In 3), it doesn't work because you used "eat...." for other than its typical/usual meaning.

Does anybody else think that the sentence

Go ahead and eat your heart out! (Meaning eat as much as you please whatever you please?)

is not right and doesn't correspond to the meaning in parentheses? I was quite dubious as to whether or not "eat your heart out" can be used like that. It is kind of difficult to find out the truth when one native (Tdol) says one thing (3 is more or less correct) while other (bilmcd) says another thing.

 

[Tdol]

It depends, as always, on context. If you were standing at a buffet and heard it, how would you interpret it?

 

[TheParser]

Go ahead and eat your heart out! (Meaning eat as much as you please whatever you please?)

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


Hello,


Let's say that Tom has decided to break up with Mona. Of course, he wants to be as kind as possible. So before

he tells her the news, he takes her to dinner at an upscale ( = expensive) restaurant in Beverly Hills (a California

city famous for its wealthy residents.) When they start looking at the menu, he says:

"Please order anything you want. Money is no object. I want you to eat to your heart's content."


James

 

[billmcd]

Does anybody else think that the sentence

Go ahead and eat your heart out! (Meaning eat as much as you please whatever you please?)

is not right and doesn't correspond to the meaning in parentheses? I was quite dubious as to whether or not "eat your heart out" can be used like that. It is kind of difficult to find out the truth when one native (Tdol) says one thing (3 is more or less correct) while other (bilmcd) says another thing.

I have done the research for you which you could have easily done yourself.
From Answers.com:
It means to feel extremely unhappy about a hopeless situation; to feel overwhelming grief, sorrow, longing, or jealousy.

Origin: This expression goes all the way back to the ancient Greeks, as the poet Homer used it in his famous epic poem the ODYSSEY. A person's heart has always been considered the center of his or her emotions. For instance, a person can be "brokenhearted", or have a "heart of gold." This idiom saying that if you become thin and weak from sorrow, if your misery is making you sick, then you are figuratively eating your heart out.

---
In modern usage, the expression means to be extremely jealous or upset.

Example: (jealousy) : When Marika got the lead in the school play, Fiona was eating her heart out because she wanted that role.

Telling another individual to "eat your heart out", means that they should be overwhelmingly jealous, or heartbroken, about missing an opportunity that another has taken.

Example
: "Eat your heart out, Coach Smith, because we won the trophy instead of your team."

 

[5jj]

"Please order anything you want. Money is no object. I want you to eat to your heart's content."

That is far more natural than 'eat your heart out' (in this sense), in my opinion.

 

[billmcd]

It depends, as always, on context. If you were standing at a buffet and heard it, how would you interpret it?

In that situation I would probably understand what the person meant, but I would probably also think to myself that it was a misuse of the term.

 

[Tdol]

I agree, but these were originally described by the OP as playful usages rather than pure ones, which is why I thought that the meaning was a possible one.

 

[BobK]

Does anybody else think that the sentence

Go ahead and eat your heart out! (Meaning eat as much as you please whatever you please?)

is not right and doesn't correspond to the meaning in parentheses? I was quite dubious as to whether or not "eat your heart out" can be used like that. It is kind of difficult to find out the truth when one native (Tdol) says one thing (3 is more or less correct) while other (bilmcd) says another thing.

Me - I don't think it works. Idiomatic exhortations to unstinted consumption (!) include 'Tuck in', 'Get stuck in', 'Eat your fill' (maybe a bit dated), 'Eat up'..... Note, 'eat up' has at least two functions: it can mean 'Start eating', but it can often mean 'Finish eating what is on your plate - as in 'Come on, you've done nothing but talk for the last five minutes. Eat up now.'

b

 

[emsr2d2]

Me - I don't think it works. Idiomatic exhortations to unstinted consumption (!) include 'Tuck in', 'Get stuck in', 'Eat your fill' (maybe a bit dated), 'Eat up'..... Note, 'eat up' has at least two functions: it can mean 'Start eating', but it can often mean 'Finish eating what is on your plate - as in 'Come on, you've done nothing but talk for the last five minutes. Eat up now.'

b

And:

Fill your boots
Stuff your face
Fill your face