[Lexicog] open eyes

[Richard Rhodes]

Wayne,
	The expression is certainly used in English for addressing 
metaphorical blindness.

	Here's an excerpt from one of the twenty or so songs entitled 
"Open your eyes". This one is by the punk band NOFX. (I don't listen 
to this stuff at all, but it was the first really clear example out 
of the 5.5 million hits when I googled "open your eyes".)

At first I thought you were dead
But now i see that you're wanted dead
Something I did, and they say yeah yeah
Blank gen, blank gen(eration)
Open your eyes
Open your eyes
Can't you see what's going on
Open your eyes
Open your eyes
Can't you see what's going wrong
Open your eyes
Well they tell you lies and you sing along
Open your eyes
Well they tell you lies and you sing along
      etc., etc.

	But I also think you're right that it can't refer to the 
correction of literal blindness in English.

Rich

At 10:39 PM -0800 2/3/08, Wayne Leman wrote:
>Is the collocation "open eyes" ever used in any standard dialect of English
>for a meaning other than 'to open one's eyelids" (e.g. upon waking up from
>sleep)?
>
>I am particularly interested to know if a literal translation of the
>Hebraism "open eyes", meaning 'regain eyesight', is ever used in any
>standard dialect of English?
>
>Thanks,
>Wayne
>-----
>Wayne Leman
>Cheyenne dictionary online:
><http://cheyenne.110mb.com>http://cheyenne.110mb.com
>
>


-- 
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    Richard A. Rhodes
    Department of Linguistics
    University of California
    Berkeley, CA 94720-2650
    Voice (510) 643-7325
    FAX (510) 643-5688

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