Do we say "a man of many brains" or "a man of

Pos   Mon Jun 18, 2007 9:51 pm GMT
I have to buy you a dictionary for christmas, Kef.

of much brain = very intelligent or intellectual
furrykef   Mon Jun 18, 2007 9:53 pm GMT
<< Kef seems to think that "idiomatic English" means the English that Kef knows. >>

Well, I did make a point of googling the phrase rather than just saying "Well, I would never say that" and leaving it at that.

<< I sometimes wonder if Furrykey is weel read or just a nonnative speaker pretending to be a native >>

I wouldn't consider myself well-read -- almost certainly less than M56 is -- so I'm guilty as charged there. But I don't understand the "nonnative pretending to be a native" idea. I have no incentive to behave that way, and I don't think I've said anything that indicates I'm a non-native speaker. Being a native speaker doesn't mean I'm always right, of course, and I recognize that. Anyway, I was born in 1984 in Oklahoma City, where I still live. That doesn't prove anything, of course, but I have no real means of proving anything here, nor am I terribly interested in going to any lengths to do so.

- Kef
furrykef   Mon Jun 18, 2007 9:57 pm GMT
No, I haven't really read Winnie the Pooh. I watched the cartoons a very little bit and might have had a story read to me at one time or another.

<< I have to buy you a dictionary for christmas, Kef.

of much brain = very intelligent or intellectual >>

And which dictionary is that from?

I already mentioned the google hits. Getting very few google hits is all I need to know that this is a rare phrase.

- Kef
Pos   Mon Jun 18, 2007 9:59 pm GMT
<If I say "He has more brain than you do," it sounds very odd to me. "More brains", in the plural, is possible, so "brains" fits the pattern. >

So all these are unidiomatic, IYO?


It takes a lot of brain to figure out why he behaves in the way he does."

"Often, it takes more brain to understand the Arab that it does the Jew."
M56   Mon Jun 18, 2007 10:01 pm GMT
<>No, I haven't really read Winnie the Pooh. I watched the cartoons a very little bit and might have had a story read to me at one time or another.><

Try this gap-fill, Kef:

Winnie the Pooh is known as a bear of little ____ .
M56   Mon Jun 18, 2007 10:02 pm GMT
<Getting very few google hits is all I need to know that this is a rare phrase.>


Again, is the term "rare" synonymous with "idiomatic English"?
Pos   Mon Jun 18, 2007 10:13 pm GMT
Fig. sense of "intellectual power" is from 1393; meaning "a clever person" is first recorded 1914.
M56   Mon Jun 18, 2007 10:20 pm GMT
Real English:

"He has more brain than heart."

"He has more brain than any General they have got." (American Civil War text)

1913

Intelligence: Russell provided this insight into determining the intelligence of a being. "Stand a man alongside of a dog. Look at their heads. The one slopes back; there is no place for the intellectual qualities at all, or at least a very small place for the thinking apparatus man has. He has more brain than the dog. If we could make a dog with the same head as a man, he would think the same as a man" (The Watch Tower, 15 March 1913, p. 667).
M56   Mon Jun 18, 2007 10:21 pm GMT
Cheating a bit with the Russael quote.

He-hee-he.
Bridget   Mon Jun 18, 2007 10:23 pm GMT
The best leader that this country has ever produced. Why change now? I was hoping that she will run for the second term. Run, Gloria, run! This is one woman who has more brain than anybody in congress put together.
furrykef   Mon Jun 18, 2007 10:42 pm GMT
OK, "more brain than" gets many more relevant google hits than "of much brain(s)" does, so I'll accept it. But "more brains than" gets many *more* hits than that, so I still think it would be the preferable phrase.

So I'm not 100% right 100% of the time. That's hardly news... ;)

That said, "of much brain" still sounds very odd to me and, no doubt, to many other speakers as well.

- Kef
Guest   Mon Jun 18, 2007 11:23 pm GMT
I looked at those "more brain than" results on google and it looks like most of them are referring to physical brain size, and not being used idiomatically.
furrykef   Mon Jun 18, 2007 11:54 pm GMT
That's a good point. And some of the relevant instances could be mere typos. But apparently some people do use the word "brain" that way, which is what matters...
Pos   Tue Jun 19, 2007 7:18 am GMT
<OK, "more brain than" gets many more relevant google hits than "of much brain(s)" does, so I'll accept it. But "more brains than" gets many *more* hits than that, so I still think it would be the preferable phrase. >

Preferable for whom?
Pos   Tue Jun 19, 2007 7:27 am GMT
<That said, "of much brain" still sounds very odd to me and, no doubt, to many other speakers as well. >

There you go again making assumptions based on your circle of experience.