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Min
Community Tutor
Could someone explain what "heads" mean in this context? Also, what can "past" be paraphrased to? Maybe "into"? It's kind of hard to understand 😥
Aug 23, 2022 9:39 AM
Answers · 9
So 'past' means you are scrolling on your phone and seeing things without stopping. So if you can imagine seeing something as you are driving 'past' it in a car but not stopping, when we scroll past things on our phone it is similar. A 'talking head' is a term for people who appear on TV giving their opinions eg. in news programmes. But it could be used like here to describe people talking and giving their opinions without really listening.
August 23, 2022
"Talking heads" is a phrase. It literally comes from the way a TV producer describes the structure of a news program or documentary. Sometimes they show something happening. You see a hurricane blow off the roof of a building. Then sometimes they cut to a shot of someone talking about it. You hear interesting words, but visually the picture is boring. t's a picture of someone's head and shoulders and a plain background. What you see is "a talking head." One talking head looks a lot like another. Here, it's being used as an insult. It means people who are just talking. People who say the stock market will crash, or all money will become worthless, or something. Apocalyptic" means "having to do with the end of the world." "Apocalyptic predictions" means extreme, exaggerated talk, intended to scare people.
August 23, 2022
Past something means that the thing has been left far behind. So past predictions (in this case) means you've gone ahead of those predictions. It's been used as a figure of speech. Talking heads is usually used in context of news programs. The phrase comes from the fact that the camera is too close to the people on screen, so you only see their heads not their bodies. It means people who are invited on TV or news shows to give opinions on a topic. I'm guessing the passage is meant to be insulting, so it could mean that the only thing they know how to do is just talk and seem important, but in reality they don't act.
August 23, 2022
Hi Min. To go past something means to put that something behind you. In your example it used metaphorically: "pushing my way past apocalyptic predictions" means put those predictions behind me and forget about it. Regarding the term "heads", from the context I think it means "headlines" like newspaper headlines, but a second opinion would be welcome. I hope that helps.
August 23, 2022
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