'Cold Feet' and Other Cold Body Expressions

 

And now, the VOA Learning English program Words and Their Stories.

Cold weather has a great effect on how our minds and our bodies work. Perhaps that is why we have so many expressions that combine the word “cold” with body parts.

The most straightforward¹ example is the adjective coldhearted. Just as it sounds, a coldhearted person is distant and, well, cold. An action can be coldhearted as well. This would be one that shows no love or sympathy.

There are many songs about coldhearted men or coldhearted women who, without feeling, broke the hearts of their lovers.

In the 1988 song, Cold Hearted, Paula Abdul sings about the coldhearted man who broke her heart.

He's a coldhearted snake, look into his eyes,

Oh, oh he's been telling lies. He's a lover boy at play,

He don't play by the rules oh, oh, oh ...

The song was a huge hit.

It seems a trend may have been set. In 2010, the Zac Brown Band released a song with the exact same name.

Pretty little words covered your dark and crooked² heart

With a forked tongue I fell in love,

Then I fell apart

You are so

Cold hearted

Other similar adjectives often get a hyphen, like cold-blooded. Reptiles³, amphibians⁴ and most fish are cold-blooded animals. This means they are unable to control their own body temperature. Mammals, on the other hand, are warm-blooded -- well, for the most part. There are some people in the world you could call cold-blooded.

People who show no emotions or feelings are often described as cold-blooded. Cold-blooded people are hard to get close to. And they often do terrible things, on purpose.

For example, the police might look for someone they call a cold-blooded killer⁵. The person killed someone without any understandable cause - not in self-defense, fear or even anger. Killing⁶ for no reason is often called cold-blooded.

Okay, enough of cold-blooded people. Let’s go back to fish!

As we said earlier, most are cold-blooded. So, calling a striped bass⁷ or rainbow trout⁸ a “cold fish” is fine. They would not be insulted…if they could be insulted.

But calling a person a “cold fish” is an insult.

A cold fish is a person who is unfriendly, unemotional and shows no love or warmth. Cold fish do not offer much of themselves to anyone.

However, not everyone who doesn’t show their feelings is a cold fish. Some people keep their feelings to themselves until they know you better. We could describe these people with the expression cold hands, warm heart.

This means that a person may be very kind and warm. But they just don’t show their feelings very easily. Take my friend Celeste as an example. She doesn’t normally show her feelings. But she is always ready to help and is very kind. She is a classic case of cold hands, warm heart.

Speaking of hands, the hands and feet are some of the first body parts to feel the cold. Getting cold feet is no fun – outdoors or in conversation.

To get cold feet means to become afraid to do something you had already decided⁹ to do. We use this expression in situations that make us nervous or afraid -- from leading a big meeting at work to singing on stage in front of strangers.

But we commonly use it in connection with weddings. People who are about to get married may begin to feel nervous as the day nears. They begin to question if they should take such a big step. If a bride shares these feelings of nervousness and uncertainty¹⁰, a relative or friend might answer with “Don’t worry! This is a classic case of cold feet!”

Another body part involved in our cold expressions today is the shoulder.

You give someone the cold shoulder when you refuse to speak to them. You ignore them. The expression probably comes from the physical act of turning your back toward someone. You may give a cold shoulder to a friend who has broken a promise, or to someone who has said mean things about others.

Well, that brings us to the end of this Words and Their Stories.

In the Comments Section, let us know what you think of today’s show. We try to answer as many comments as we can. But unfortunately we can’t respond to all. So, if you don’t get a reply, please know we’re not giving you the cold shoulder.

I'm Anna Matteo.

Words in This Story

straightforward – adj. easy to do or understand : not complicated

sympathy – n. the feeling that you care about and are sorry about someone else's trouble, grief, misfortune, etc. : a sympathetic feeling

forked tongue – n. the intent to mislead or deceive —usually used in the phrase to speak with forked tongue

striped bass – n. a large silvery marine¹¹ food and sport fish that has black horizontal stripes on the sides,

rainbow trout – n. a large trout native to western North America that usually has red or pink stripes with black dots on its side

classic case – n. a typical example

specific – adj. relating to a particular person, situation, etc.

1 straightforward   

adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的

参考例句：

• A straightforward talk is better than a flowery speech.巧言不如直说。
• I must insist on your giving me a straightforward answer.我一定要你给我一个直截了当的回答。

2 crooked   

adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He crooked a finger to tell us to go over to him.他弯了弯手指，示意我们到他那儿去。
• You have to drive slowly on these crooked country roads.在这些弯弯曲曲的乡间小路上你得慢慢开车。

3 reptiles   

n.爬行动物，爬虫( reptile的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Snakes and crocodiles are both reptiles. 蛇和鳄鱼都是爬行动物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Birds, reptiles and insects come from eggs. 鸟类、爬虫及昆虫是卵生的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 amphibians   

两栖动物( amphibian的名词复数 )； 水陆两用车； 水旱两生植物； 水陆两用飞行器

参考例句：

• The skin of amphibians is permeable to water. 两栖动物的皮肤是透水的。
• Two amphibians ferry them out over the sands. 两辆水陆两用车把他们渡过沙滩。

5 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

6 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

7 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。

8 trout   

n.鳟鱼；鲑鱼(属)

参考例句：

• Thousands of young salmon and trout have been killed by the pollution.成千上万的鲑鱼和鳟鱼的鱼苗因污染而死亡。
• We hooked a trout and had it for breakfast.我们钓了一条鳟鱼，早饭时吃了。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

11 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。