What does "straight out of a cartoon" mean?
Hi there.

I was reading a TED transcript when I came across this sentence: "straight out of a cartoon". I suppose that is an English expression once I couldn't translate it. Am I right?

Please, could you explain what it means? By the way, I'd like an example where I can use it. :)

Cheers.Where I read about it:
"Most of us will probably fall in love a few times over the course of our lives, and in the English language, this metaphor, falling, is really the main way that we talk about that experience. I don't know about you, but when I conceptualize this metaphor, what I picture is straight out of a cartoon."

Question

What does "straight out of a cartoon" mean?
Hi there.

I was reading a TED transcript when I came across this sentence: "straight out of a cartoon". I suppose that is an English expression once I couldn't translate it. Am I right?

Please, could you explain what it means? By the way, I'd like an example where I can use it. :)

Cheers.Where I read about it:
"Most of us will probably fall in love a few times over the course of our lives, and in the English language, this metaphor, falling, is really the main way that we talk about that experience. I don't know about you, but when I conceptualize this metaphor, what I picture is straight out of a cartoon."

Answer

It's more common to say 'It was like something straight out of a movie', referring to a whimsical/almost unrealistic (often romantic, like when a girl and boy meet after she drops her books and he bends down to help (aka a meet-cute)) situation that you would expect to see in a movie. In this context,he's saying he is imagining the metaphor as though it's in a cartoon (silly and not necessarily realistic), e.g. a cartoon character being hit by Cupid's arrow and literally "falling" down from love. Not a particularly common phrase :) Watching and reading transcripts of TED Talks is such a good idea! I might just steal it.

Answer

I haven't heard this as a general expression before, so my guess is that it's based on context, that something seemed so ridiculous/weird that it was as if it were a cartoon and not real life.

Answer

I agree with Dan.  In case you are not familiar with Wile E. Coyote, here is a little clip of one of his falls (from YouTube)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq_bjaI0NTo

Answer

I agree with Tess. He's thinking about a visual image of "falling in love" the way Wile E. Coyote falls off a cliff.

The lyrics to Allan Sherman's comic song "Harvey and Sheila" include:

Harvey took the elevator,
Sheila got in two floors later;
Soon they both felt they were falling,
Everyone heard Sheila calling
"Ring the bell!"
But they fell!
Harv and Sheila fell in love.

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