[General] hard/ sharp of hearing

[Mnemon]

a. He is hard of hearing.

b. He is sharp of hearing.

Are they both correct?

 

[jutfrank]

a. is fine. I've never heard 'sharp of hearing' but I suppose in context I'd understand what it means. Where did you see or hear that? From a native speaker?

 

[Mnemon]

a. is fine. I've never heard 'sharp of hearing' but I suppose in context I'd understand what it means. Where did you see or hear that? From a native speaker?

Thanks. I've never heard or seen b either. I made it up myself. If you've never heard that before, I suppose it's unidiomatic. So, if you were to convey the idea underneath, how would you do that?

 

[jutfrank]

Thanks. I've never heard or seen b either. I made it up myself.

You made it up and then wondered whether it might just be something we naturally say? :shock: That was quite hopeful, wasn't it?

 

[Rollercoaster1]

Would it work 'He has a good ear'?

 

[ProbusMkII]

Would it work 'He has a good ear'?

That's okay.

 

[Skrej]

Would it work 'He has a good ear'?

We have the set expression of 'he has a good ear for X'. However, it means that the person has an ability to pick X that the speaker approves of in some fashion.

Along the same idea, we say also say that someone has a good eye for X. It similarly means they have the ability to identify or pick instances of X that the speaker approves of in some fashion.

John has a good eye for bargains. (John is good at finding and recognizing potential bargains.)
John has a good eye for artwork. (I appreciate John's choices in art.)
John has a good ear for classical music. (I like his choices in classical music.)
John has a good ear for gossip. (John is good at hearing about the latest gossip.)

Both the ear and eye versions mean that the person is good at noticing or choosing a particular type of something. Neither refers to their actual visual or audial acuity.

 

[emsr2d2]

Would [STRIKE]it work[/STRIKE] 'He has a good ear' work?

Note the correct way to formulate a question.

"He has a good ear" doesn't mean that his hearing is good. It means he's good at picking up on specific things when he's listening to something. Here are a couple of examples:

Fred: I just listened to your daughter's choir singing at the church.
Helen: What did you think?
Fred: They're good but there's one guy at the back who's always just a little flat.
Helen: You've got a good ear! They've been trying to get rid of him for ages but he's one of the founder members so it's a bit difficult.

John: I saw you talking to my wife earlier. Did you get on?
Sarah: Yes, she's lovely. Is she Spanish?
John: You've got a very good ear. She's lived here since she was three and thinks she sounds like a native speaker but you must have spotted one of those tiny bits of remaining Spanish pronunciation!

 

[Tdol]

Keen ear too.