When I hear some people talke about a cup, or a tea pot, they say take it by the ear. Is this correct?
I mean the ‘handle’ does have the shape of an ear, but I don’t know if it’s English. If not,
could you give me the correct word for it? Thank you very much.
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I think you mean ‘play it by ear’? It’s an idiom that means to decide something spontaneously. More here: What does "let's play it by ear" mean?
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Thanks for your reply Torsten, but that’s not what I mean.
I mean when you take cup of coffee every morning you take the cup by…?
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I would say ‘hold the cup by its handle’ as on this image.
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Since most of the handles resemble an ear, it is sometimes used so, but informally.
Therefore, Hold the cup by the ear or Take the cup by the ear can be acceptable in spoken contexts.
(I hope Torsten will agree with me)
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The handle of the cup is Ear shape, so they call it ear instead of handle, I think.
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