I learn english and often see phrase to do nothing, but it's nothing, how possible to do it?
If it's nothing*
If it's nothing*
Anonymous
Favorite Answer
You are asking it from a philosophical point of view.
In plain English, "to do nothing" means to not do anything at all. It describe a lazy person who spends his/her time wasting the day away by not doing anything.
Example:
Somebody who stays in bed and sleeps all day is a lazy person who has nothing to do. He's doing nothing but sleeps.
In your philosophical argument, the act of sleeping IS doing something; therefore, it's impossible that he is not doing anything.
.... If you define the phrase that way then, ok, you do have a point; but that's not what "to do nothing" means in plain, everyday English.
?
When someone says they're doing nothing they mean they're not doing anything. It's not meant to be taken literally - just that they're not doing anything important enough to mention. If I say I'm doing nothing over the weekend, a person would usually take that to mean that I will just stay home and be lazy.
Kiron Kang
The best example would be doing something that is embarrassing. Say you are watching a movie. A man, woman, and a bed. They are getting undressed.
Suddenly you heard your grandmother about to walk in. Quickly you switch off the movie.
She asks " What are you doing?"
To save yourself embarrassment you reply " Nothing".
When parents tell their children to clean their room and they forget, mother's usually scream, " you do nothing all day, and yet you still can't tidy up after yourself!"