Meaning & Analysis
It is physically impossible to exhale both hot and cold air from one's mouth at the same time, so the expression immediately points to a metaphorical meaning concerning contradiction.
Insights
Duplicity and Hypocrisy
The primary meaning refers to duplicity and hypocrisy. It describes someone who says one thing but means or does another, such as praising a person to their face while criticizing them behind their back.
Inconsistency and Fickleness
It signifies a person who is fickle, inconsistent, and unreliable. Their opinions, loyalties, or affections change rapidly and without reason, making them impossible to depend on.
Contradictory Statements
The proverb can describe someone who expresses contradictory opinions or supports opposing sides of an issue, often to suit their audience or for personal gain, thereby revealing a lack of firm principles.
Manipulation and Insincerity
It warns against those who are manipulative and insincere. By 'blowing hot' (showing affection/support) and 'cold' (showing dislike/opposition), they strategically confuse and control others.
Classical and Fable Origins
Originating from Aesop's fable of the Satyr and the Traveler, the proverb's meaning is rooted in the satyr's horror at the traveler's ability to use his breath for opposite purposes (warming hands, cooling soup), viewing it as a sign of a deceptive and unnatural dual nature.
Psychological Distrust
The proverb reflects a deep-seated psychological need for consistency and reliability in others. The act of 'blowing hot and cold' creates cognitive dissonance and mistrust, violating social expectations of integrity and straightforwardness.
Inherent Moral Judgment
This proverb carries a strong, inherent moral judgment. Unlike neutral observations, it functions as an accusation of hypocrisy and flawed character, suggesting that a person who is inconsistent in their words or affections is fundamentally untrustworthy.
Literary Trope of a Dissembler
Its frequent use in literature, as shown by citations from the 16th and 17th centuries, establishes it as a classic trope for identifying a 'dissembler' or a two-faced individual, making it a powerful and concise literary tool for character condemnation.
Rhetorical Devices
Antithesis
The proverb is built on the stark contrast between 'hot' and 'cold', an effective antithesis that powerfully illustrates the theme of contradiction and duality.
Metaphor
The physical act of blowing from the 'mouth' serves as a potent metaphor for a person's expressions—their words, actions, and loyalties—originating from a single, yet unreliable, source.
Paradox
The phrase presents a logical impossibility or paradox. This unnatural quality makes the expression memorable and underscores the unnaturalness of the hypocritical behavior it describes.
Transcription
Quotations
Ex eodem ore calidum et frigidum efflare.
Out of one mouthe commeth bothe hotte and colde.
[As in Eras.]
Out of the same mouth hot and cold.
Which, Gnato like, doth blowe bothe hot and cold.
Doe you blow hot and cold at once, at once will and nill?
They can blow hot and cold, as the fellow in the Fable, to make all the Satyrs, and almost the Devil himself abhor them.
He blows hot and cold.
(With the same breath to).
To blow hot and cold with the same breath.
Abhorring as the Satyr did of old, The wretch that could at once blow hot and cold.
The Old Adage of Blowing Hot and Cold; which is taken for the Mark and Character of a Dissembler.
So Esop's Satyr we are told With the same Breath, blew Hot and Cold.
Cross References
- See St., no. 2532.
Annotations
- A Prouerbe vsed towards those, which can speake faire, before a mans face, but behind his backe raise horrible contumelies and reproches.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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