JustAIllusionToMe Posted April 3, 2014 Posted April 3, 2014 Well, I want to hear someone's opinion on this personal line of the song, because I don't have it very clear. English isn't my first language so...first at all, don't know if I'm interpreting this right. What does the word gutter mean here? ._. Hope this isn't a lame thread, but I didn't know a better place to ask :/ Thanks Mika Freaks♥
JustAIllusionToMe Posted April 3, 2014 Author Posted April 3, 2014 Gosh, don't know why I wrote personal, I meant specific...So sorry, don't know what I was thinking -.-' Blame it on the Mika(?)
mellody Posted April 3, 2014 Posted April 3, 2014 english isn't my first language either, so i might be wrong, but i've always interpreted it as a variation of the word "guts", changed to fit the rhyme. so it would be like a kick in the stomach.
macboll Posted April 3, 2014 Posted April 3, 2014 english isn't my first language either, so i might be wrong, but i've always interpreted it as a variation of the word "guts", changed to fit the rhyme. so it would be like a kick in the stomach. +1
ceebs Posted April 3, 2014 Posted April 3, 2014 (edited) It could be, but here in the US, the gutter is on the side of a street, where all the dead leaves and junk from the road winds up. So by kicking something to the gutter, it's like saying something is worthless and gross. I hope that helps! Edited April 3, 2014 by ceebs
dcdeb Posted April 3, 2014 Posted April 3, 2014 english isn't my first language either, so i might be wrong, but i've always interpreted it as a variation of the word "guts", changed to fit the rhyme. so it would be like a kick in the stomach. It could be, but here in the US, the gutter is on the side of a street, where all the dead leaves and junk from the road winds up. So by kicking something to the gutter, it's like saying something is worthless and gross. I hope that helps! Yes, I'm pretty certain this is what Mika meant, not that you were kicked in the gut. I've never heard the phrase "kicked in the gutter" used in that way. Here's a street gutter: As you can see, it's that part of the road that meets the sidewalk. It usually makes a kind of trough, and debris, leaves, garbage tend to collect there. I think Mika meant it as "you kick me *into* the gutter" -- so, "And with your bitter words you kick me in the gutter", I always took to mean, "the things you say are so mean that you're basically kicking me aside as you would if I were trash."
Christine Posted April 3, 2014 Posted April 3, 2014 I think it's a combination. I think he says "in the gutter" as a play on "in the guts", but yes the meaning is "into the gutter".
mellody Posted April 3, 2014 Posted April 3, 2014 ah thanks! lol, 7 years of listening to the song countless times, and i had no idea!
ceebs Posted April 3, 2014 Posted April 3, 2014 It's the least I can do with all the nice translating our bilingual friends do for us!
tiibet Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 (edited) It could be, but here in the US, the gutter is on the side of a street, where all the dead leaves and junk from the road winds up. So by kicking something to the gutter, it's like saying something is worthless and gross. I hope that helps! Here's a street gutter: As you can see, it's that part of the road that meets the sidewalk. It usually makes a kind of trough, and debris, leaves, garbage tend to collect there. I think Mika meant it as "you kick me *into* the gutter" -- so, "And with your bitter words you kick me in the gutter", I always took to mean, "the things you say are so mean that you're basically kicking me aside as you would if I were trash." Oh, this is fascinating! Thanks for the explanations. I never knew what gutter means. Our streets are not built like that, so we don't even have "gutter" around here, I didn't know something like that even exists. Somehow I got the meaning and tone from the expression so I've never even thought what it literally means. Can it also mean a bigger one (next to streets)? Edited April 4, 2014 by tiibet
mamiam Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 Yes, I'm pretty certain this is what Mika meant, not that you were kicked in the gut. I've never heard the phrase "kicked in the gutter" used in that way. Here's a street gutter: As you can see, it's that part of the road that meets the sidewalk. It usually makes a kind of trough, and debris, leaves, garbage tend to collect there. I think Mika meant it as "you kick me *into* the gutter" -- so, "And with your bitter words you kick me in the gutter", I always took to mean, "the things you say are so mean that you're basically kicking me aside as you would if I were trash." "Thank you for the time it's taking, cleaning up the mess I'm making" ... It's a great explanation you gave here, thank you! It's also quite impressing how much we can learn, by just studing MIKAs song lyrics!! ... Love,love me
dcdeb Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 I think it's a combination. I think he says "in the gutter" as a play on "in the guts", but yes the meaning is "into the gutter". Hmmm... you could be right, it could be a play on words as well. It just goes to show you, there's always more than one way to think about things... Oh, this is fascinating! Thanks for the explanations. I never knew what gutter means. Our streets are not built like that, so we don't even have "gutter" around here, I didn't know something like that even exists. Somehow I got the meaning and tone from the expression so I've never even thought what it literally means. Can it also mean a bigger one (next to streets)? Yes, no matter how we interpreted the phrase, we all understood that it was not a good thing. It got the message across! And yes, I think "gutter" has just come to mean generally that place where the curb meets the road -- sometimes it's an actual trough-like space, somtimes it even has a cover over it. And it's all not to be confused with house gutters: Don't you just love the English language?
tiibet Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 And it's all not to be confused with house gutters: Don't you just love the English language? That's the explanation I got from a dictionary! It's the same shape so I get it but it doesn't help in this case
nenartus Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 :shocked:This is really interesting. I also thought it means a kick in the stomach.
crazyaboutmika Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 It could be, but here in the US, the gutter is on the side of a street, where all the dead leaves and junk from the road winds up. So by kicking something to the gutter, it's like saying something is worthless and gross. I hope that helps! I always got that one right
ManonR Posted April 7, 2014 Posted April 7, 2014 english isn't my first language either, so i might be wrong, but i've always interpreted it as a variation of the word "guts", changed to fit the rhyme. so it would be like a kick in the stomach. I also thought that and I think that is right
JustAIllusionToMe Posted April 18, 2014 Author Posted April 18, 2014 OMG, thank you soooo much to all of you guys I hadn't had time to check on this and I didn't even think it would get so many and varied answers. It was really helpful to read all of those, now I've got this clearer. I have always thought it was the stomach thing and that it had to do with pride or something like that X'D But I really wanted to hear other opinions and all of your points of views turned to be very interesting Thank you very much, for real
Kezza Posted April 18, 2014 Posted April 18, 2014 People get kicked to the gutter all the time when they are discarded or no longer useful.
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