be hurting (for something)

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hello Alan, Mister Micawber, Beeesneees, Mordant, Esl_Expert and other native English speakers,

au.biz.yahoo.com/100710/2/2e7t3.html
It’s been revealed that families are [color=red]hurting more now than at the height of the global financial crisis.

oxfordadvancedlearnersdictio … onary/hurt
be hurting (for something) (North American English)
to be in a difficult situation because you need something, especially money

  • His campaign is already [color=darkblue]hurting for money.

Is [color=red]hurting the same thing as [color=darkblue]hurting?
Don’t British English speakers use the phrase “be hurting (for something)”?

2

Those uses are the same. I don’t know if the British use this, though. I would probably express these ideas differently.

3

Thank you, Mordant.

4

The British use the expression. As Mordant indicates, I wouldn’t use the term in that second example.

5

Thank you, B.
What would you say to mean “His campaign is already hurting for money”? Would you say “His campaign is already short of money”?

6

I think it’s just another personal feeling for the words, but somehow ‘hurting for money’ doesn’t ‘sit right’ when I read it.
If I were to rearrange it thus:
“His campaign is already so short of money that it hurts.” then that would sound perfectly natural to me. Yet both mean the same thing and both are correct.

Strange, eh?

7

Thank you, B.

Is [color=red]hurts good as it is? What about “is hurting”?

8

More interchangeables, though I would use ‘hurts’ here (and that’s what I did!).

9

Thank you, B.