ChatterBank1 min ago
The Hookah Is Alive Or Dead
13 Answers
Hi. Is it OK to use Alive/dead to say "Hookah is alive or dead" meaning:
* (I’m/not) getting enough smoke.
* (not) getting thick smoke.
* (It) makes thick smoke.
* (It)doesn't make thick smoke.
* Hookah is/isn't not producing enough smoke.
How about Pipes or cigarettes?
How does this sentence sound to you/Native English Speakers?
What do you suggest? The hookah is lit/out?
Note: In order for a hookah to reach its highest point and produce thick smoke, one should inhale the smoke through the hose several times. If one does not inhale for a minute tobacco will not get enough heat and does not produce thick smoke again.
* (I’m/not) getting enough smoke.
* (not) getting thick smoke.
* (It) makes thick smoke.
* (It)doesn't make thick smoke.
* Hookah is/isn't not producing enough smoke.
How about Pipes or cigarettes?
How does this sentence sound to you/Native English Speakers?
What do you suggest? The hookah is lit/out?
Note: In order for a hookah to reach its highest point and produce thick smoke, one should inhale the smoke through the hose several times. If one does not inhale for a minute tobacco will not get enough heat and does not produce thick smoke again.
Answers
The Hookah is an inanimate object, so alive/dead would be a figurative usage and you can only learn by experience which articles are considered to be 'alive', when functioning correctly. If you said an armchair was alive or dead, people will think you are peculiar, or that English was a second language, which you were still learning. If a room lacked echoes...
23:32 Mon 06th Oct 2014
The Hookah is an inanimate object, so alive/dead would be a figurative usage and you can only learn by experience which articles are considered to be 'alive', when functioning correctly. If you said an armchair was alive or dead, people will think you are peculiar, or that English was a second language, which you were still learning. If a room lacked echoes (reverberation), we would say it "sounds dead". (Note: the opposite situation would be "sounds normal", rather than "sounds live").
Cigarettes are described as lit, lighted, burning or out, extinguished, rather than alive/dead. Despite that, the hookah could be regarded as a device/machine and produces something very visible so many would regard it as much alive as a computer or their car.
Your use of language therefore tells the reader whether you are one of these people who regard (some) inanimate objects as having a life of their own.
Cigarettes are described as lit, lighted, burning or out, extinguished, rather than alive/dead. Despite that, the hookah could be regarded as a device/machine and produces something very visible so many would regard it as much alive as a computer or their car.
Your use of language therefore tells the reader whether you are one of these people who regard (some) inanimate objects as having a life of their own.
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