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What does I am all stomach mean?

A: ‘’It’s my turn for a gift. I would like to take you to lunch. To my favorite spot.’’

B: ‘’I am all stomach, professor!’’

Lonely Man Full of Love

Aseel
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  • Ignoring the three answers, and knowing what a stomach is for, and that students are stereotypical poor, how do you interpret it in the context of a professor taking a student to lunch? – RonJohn Feb 24 '21 at 16:25

3 Answers3

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To a native English speaker, "I am all stomach" obviously references back to the phrase "I am all ears", which means "I am ready and eager to hear what you have to say".

This phrase would probably be interpreted to mean "I am ready and eager to eat what you are offering to feed me."

Additionally, as BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft commented below, this phrase is humorous and would likely be considered funny as it is hyperbole.

Even though it is humorous, the idea that the person is eager to eat would still be conveyed unless this were said in a sarcastic way.

theTrueMikeBrown
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I think that it's a play on words similar to the idiom "I'm all ears", meaning that person "b" is eager to eat, or eager to hear or know what they are eating or going to eat.

RonJohn
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Khaled Khaled
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  • That's what I thought, and I think it implies that "B" is hungry as "A" insists to take her to lunch. If I would translate it I would say "كُلي مَعِدةٌ جائِعة" considering the phrase "I'm all ears". – Aseel Feb 22 '21 at 09:17
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    It wouldn't make much sense if you translate it literally. – Khaled Khaled Feb 22 '21 at 09:26
  • "I'm all heart", "I'm all eyes"... I wonder how applicable this expression is to other parts of one's body – Andrew Tobilko Feb 22 '21 at 10:12
  • I think it's not a literal translation @KhaledKhaled because the phrase I'm all ears is translated as "كُلّي آذانٌ صاغِية". – Aseel Feb 22 '21 at 10:22
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    Yes, but idioms are not to be translated or understood literally, I'm sure you know that. I don't think that "كُلّي آذانٌ صاغِية" is the translation of " I'm all ears ". It is just an equivalent of it in Arabic. – Khaled Khaled Feb 22 '21 at 10:37
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    @KhaledKhaled When you get into dealing with idioms, a conceptual equivalent is a proper translation. The point of translating is to preserve meaning, not blindly copy on a word-for-word basis, so it’s rare to use literal translations of idioms when translating unless the meaning is directly understandable. – Austin Hemmelgarn Feb 22 '21 at 19:16
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    Yes an idiom and its equivalent in another language have the same meaning, but I'm just saying that when translating an idiom to another language literally it might not make sense. Normally you don't translate it literally, but you understand its meaning and try to find the words that best describe it. – Khaled Khaled Feb 22 '21 at 19:42
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    An important missing detail is that it's supposed to be funny. – BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft Feb 22 '21 at 21:41
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    @AndrewTobilko "You're all heart" is a common idiom, though it's sarcastic and means the opposite. – fectin Feb 23 '21 at 00:37
  • @BlueRaja-DannyPflughoeft "I'm all stomach" isn't funny. Humorous? Yes. – RonJohn Feb 24 '21 at 20:09
  • I guess that it would be easier to interpret this if we saw her facial expression or knew the tone of her voice while saying this, or knew about her personality or her background or the type of relationship she has with her teacher, but I haven't read the book. We're only answering this based on the dialogue in the question. But the exclamation mark at the end of her part of the dialogue suggests that this was said in a playful manner. – Khaled Khaled Feb 25 '21 at 04:51
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We can compare

I am all stomach

to

I am all ears

"I am all ears" means that you are attentively listening whereas we can conclude "I am all stomach" to mean

Very hungry and will eat whatever you give them

Đαrkraι
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