[Vocabulary] heaping helping of pain

[jaleel2007]

Hi teachers,

What does the following sentence mean?

"heaping helping of pain"

The whole sentence is:
"In fact, given the heaping helping of pain, bad manners, and bum luck in the world, many deists think he/she/it doesn’t even know humans are here at all."

Actually, that is part of sentence.
Thank you

 

[emsr2d2]

Hi teachers,

What does the following sentence mean?

"heaping helping of pain"

The whole sentence is:
"In fact, given the heaping helping of pain, bad manners, and bum luck in the world, many deists think he/she/it doesn’t even know humans are here at all."

Actually, that is part of the sentence.
Thank you.

I find "heaping" unnatural there. A "helping of pain, bad manners and bum luck" makes sense - a helping is a serving, used in the same way as it is with food. "Did you have one helping of dessert or two?"

I would have understood it if it had been a "huge/massive/gigantic/gargantuan/enormous/overwhelming helping of pain" but for me "heaping" is not an adjective and that is what should appear before "helping of pain".

The only possible meaning I can come up with is "growing" - ie the amount of pain in the world is getting bigger all the time.

 

[MikeNewYork]

Hi teachers,

What does the following sentence mean?

"heaping helping of pain"

The whole sentence is:
"In fact, given the heaping helping of pain, bad manners, and bum luck in the world, many deists think he/she/it doesn’t even know humans are here at all."

Actually, that is part of sentence.
Thank you

I agree with emsr that the word "heaping" is probably not the best word, but I can't say that it is wrong. As with a heaping spoonful of something, it creates the idea of full, overfull, and possibly overflowing.

see heap here: heaping - definition of heaping by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

 

[emsr2d2]

I agree with emsr that the word "heaping" is probably not the best word, but I can't say that it is wrong. As with a heaping spoonful of something, it creates the idea of full, overfull, and possibly overflowing.

see heap here: heaping - definition of heaping by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

That's the first time I've encountered "heapful" used in that way. In BrE, it would be a "heaped spoon[ful]".

 

[Barb_D]

That's the first time I've encountered "heapful" used in that way. In BrE, it would be a "heaped spoon[ful]".

Just when I think my rate of learning the differences in our common language is slowing down, I learn of another. It's definitely "heaping spoonful" here, but now I know not to "correct" "heaped."