Seeing eye to eye
Posted by Michael on November 01, 2001
In Reply to: Seeing eye to eye posted by masakim on October 23, 2001
: : : What does 'Seeing eye to eye " mean?
: : : Thanks.
: : : Wilfried
: : From the Oxford English Dictionary:
: : "To see eye to eye" (Isa. lii. 8): often misused for to be of
one mind, think alike."
: : The Biblical verse that the OED refers to (King James version):
: : "Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together
shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall
bring again Zion."
: : So it doesn't properly mean being of one mind. Maybe somebody else knows what it does mean.
: In the Bible (Isaiah 52:8), "eye to eye," is used in the sense of "face to face; with one's own eyes."
: Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices, They shout joyfully together; For they will see with their own eyes When the LORD restores Zion. (New American Standard Bible)
: The watchmen shout and sing with joy, for before their very eyes they see the LORD bringing his people home to Jerusalem. (New Living Translation)
:
: It is now very "often misused for to be of one mind, think alike":
: The Communist and the Socialist will not see eye to eye with Dr. Inge; nor will anyone of any colour who attempts to enslave the individual to the State. (_Time Literary Supplement_, Oct 29, 1938)
: He wished to affirm the solidaity of the Axis and to dispel the rumours that he and the Duce did not see eye to eye in regard to foreign policy. (_Spectator_, June 1939)
How about this as a possibility? Seeing eye to eye may mean that you are on the same level as opposed to being of one mind. What I am trying to say is that when I was teaching, I would crouch down to eye level with the child in order to form a less aggressive position (unless of course, the situation dictated otherwise). Just a thought.