“Off the top of one's head” or “by heart”“get into one's head” in a sentenceLaugh your heart out or laugh your head off?What does “beat free” (or “can't beat free”) mean?“you poked my heart…”cloud one's judgement vs. crowd one's judgementWhat's the meaning of “bust head open”Is “to have one's head in the sky” a valid English idiom?Beating one's head against the wall / a brick wallMaking up illogical, unreasonable and unimportant excuses/objections“Performing one's working duties” or “Pulling one's weight”
In xXx, is Xander Cage's 10th vehicle a specific reference to another franchise?
Why don't politicians push for fossil fuel reduction by pointing out their scarcity?
!I!n!s!e!r!t! !n!b!e!t!w!e!e!n!
Changing a TGV booking
Default camera device to show screen instead of physical camera
What is the evidence on the danger of feeding whole blueberries and grapes to infants and toddlers?
How to decide whether an eshop is safe or compromised
How to think about joining a company whose business I do not understand?
What happened after the end of the Truman Show?
Could sidesticks be linked?
TechSupport Issue ID#812
Did the twin engined Lazair ultralight have a throttle for each engine?
How can I pack my food so it doesn't smell?
Unbiased estimator of exponential of measure of a set?
"Silverware", "Tableware", and "Dishes"
How do I intentionally fragment a SQL Server Index?
Chord with lyrics - What does it mean if there is an empty space instead of a Chord?
Levenshtein Neighbours
Chess software to analyze games
Designing a prison for a telekinetic race
Are there any OR challenges that are similar to kaggle's competitions?
Nuclear decay triggers
Are there categories whose internal hom is somewhat 'exotic'?
How does the Saturn V Dynamic Test Stand work?
“Off the top of one's head” or “by heart”
“get into one's head” in a sentenceLaugh your heart out or laugh your head off?What does “beat free” (or “can't beat free”) mean?“you poked my heart…”cloud one's judgement vs. crowd one's judgementWhat's the meaning of “bust head open”Is “to have one's head in the sky” a valid English idiom?Beating one's head against the wall / a brick wallMaking up illogical, unreasonable and unimportant excuses/objections“Performing one's working duties” or “Pulling one's weight”
.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty margin-bottom:0;
I wonder which expression can be used in my following example?
Our teacher was a really smart person. At the second session, he know everyone's name ................
off the top of his head
from the knowledge you have in your memory:- What's the capital of Mauritania?---I don't know off the top of my head, but I could go and look it up.
by heart
If you know something such as a poem by heart, you have learned it so well that you can remember it without having to read it.- Mack knew this passage by heart.
idioms expressions phrases
edited Aug 7 at 10:02
Bee
2,9585 silver badges22 bronze badges
asked Aug 7 at 9:38
A-friendA-friend
5,63320 gold badges80 silver badges168 bronze badges
add a comment |
I wonder which expression can be used in my following example?
Our teacher was a really smart person. At the second session, he know everyone's name ................
off the top of his head
from the knowledge you have in your memory:- What's the capital of Mauritania?---I don't know off the top of my head, but I could go and look it up.
by heart
If you know something such as a poem by heart, you have learned it so well that you can remember it without having to read it.- Mack knew this passage by heart.
idioms expressions phrases
edited Aug 7 at 10:02
Bee
2,9585 silver badges22 bronze badges
asked Aug 7 at 9:38
A-friendA-friend
5,63320 gold badges80 silver badges168 bronze badges
1
You might want to update the title to include the t from heart. (I would also say off by heart instead of just by heart, but I think they're synonyms so could just be my dialect)
– Smock
Aug 7 at 9:58
@Smock I'm pretty certain they are synonymous
– Bee
Aug 7 at 10:03
You don't need to qualify that idiomatically. It's sufficient to say "he knew all the student's names", or you could qualify it like, "he remembered everyone's names" or "he could recall every student's names despite having only met us once", etc. As a native English speaker, "by heart" is probably more correct in this case than "top of my head", but I feel like "by heart" does not normally apply in this type of case.
– David Zemens
Aug 7 at 17:57
add a comment |
I wonder which expression can be used in my following example?
Our teacher was a really smart person. At the second session, he know everyone's name ................
off the top of his head
from the knowledge you have in your memory:- What's the capital of Mauritania?---I don't know off the top of my head, but I could go and look it up.
by heart
If you know something such as a poem by heart, you have learned it so well that you can remember it without having to read it.- Mack knew this passage by heart.
idioms expressions phrases
edited Aug 7 at 10:02
Bee
2,9585 silver badges22 bronze badges
asked Aug 7 at 9:38
A-friendA-friend
5,63320 gold badges80 silver badges168 bronze badges
I wonder which expression can be used in my following example?
Our teacher was a really smart person. At the second session, he know everyone's name ................
off the top of his head
from the knowledge you have in your memory:- What's the capital of Mauritania?---I don't know off the top of my head, but I could go and look it up.
by heart
If you know something such as a poem by heart, you have learned it so well that you can remember it without having to read it.- Mack knew this passage by heart.
idioms expressions phrases
idioms expressions phrases
edited Aug 7 at 10:02
Bee
2,9585 silver badges22 bronze badges
asked Aug 7 at 9:38
A-friendA-friend
5,63320 gold badges80 silver badges168 bronze badges
edited Aug 7 at 10:02
Bee
2,9585 silver badges22 bronze badges
asked Aug 7 at 9:38
A-friendA-friend
5,63320 gold badges80 silver badges168 bronze badges
edited Aug 7 at 10:02
Bee
2,9585 silver badges22 bronze badges
edited Aug 7 at 10:02
Bee
2,9585 silver badges22 bronze badges
edited Aug 7 at 10:02
Bee
2,9585 silver badges22 bronze badges
2,9585 silver badges22 bronze badges
asked Aug 7 at 9:38
A-friendA-friend
5,63320 gold badges80 silver badges168 bronze badges
asked Aug 7 at 9:38
A-friendA-friend
5,63320 gold badges80 silver badges168 bronze badges
asked Aug 7 at 9:38
A-friendA-friend
5,63320 gold badges80 silver badges168 bronze badges
5,63320 gold badges80 silver badges168 bronze badges
1
You might want to update the title to include the t from heart. (I would also say off by heart instead of just by heart, but I think they're synonyms so could just be my dialect)
– Smock
Aug 7 at 9:58
@Smock I'm pretty certain they are synonymous
– Bee
Aug 7 at 10:03
You don't need to qualify that idiomatically. It's sufficient to say "he knew all the student's names", or you could qualify it like, "he remembered everyone's names" or "he could recall every student's names despite having only met us once", etc. As a native English speaker, "by heart" is probably more correct in this case than "top of my head", but I feel like "by heart" does not normally apply in this type of case.
– David Zemens
Aug 7 at 17:57
add a comment |
1
You might want to update the title to include the t from heart. (I would also say off by heart instead of just by heart, but I think they're synonyms so could just be my dialect)
– Smock
Aug 7 at 9:58
@Smock I'm pretty certain they are synonymous
– Bee
Aug 7 at 10:03
You don't need to qualify that idiomatically. It's sufficient to say "he knew all the student's names", or you could qualify it like, "he remembered everyone's names" or "he could recall every student's names despite having only met us once", etc. As a native English speaker, "by heart" is probably more correct in this case than "top of my head", but I feel like "by heart" does not normally apply in this type of case.
– David Zemens
Aug 7 at 17:57
1
1
You might want to update the title to include the t from heart. (I would also say off by heart instead of just by heart, but I think they're synonyms so could just be my dialect)
– Smock
Aug 7 at 9:58
You might want to update the title to include the t from heart. (I would also say off by heart instead of just by heart, but I think they're synonyms so could just be my dialect)
– Smock
Aug 7 at 9:58
@Smock I'm pretty certain they are synonymous
– Bee
Aug 7 at 10:03
@Smock I'm pretty certain they are synonymous
– Bee
Aug 7 at 10:03
You don't need to qualify that idiomatically. It's sufficient to say "he knew all the student's names", or you could qualify it like, "he remembered everyone's names" or "he could recall every student's names despite having only met us once", etc. As a native English speaker, "by heart" is probably more correct in this case than "top of my head", but I feel like "by heart" does not normally apply in this type of case.
– David Zemens
Aug 7 at 17:57
You don't need to qualify that idiomatically. It's sufficient to say "he knew all the student's names", or you could qualify it like, "he remembered everyone's names" or "he could recall every student's names despite having only met us once", etc. As a native English speaker, "by heart" is probably more correct in this case than "top of my head", but I feel like "by heart" does not normally apply in this type of case.
– David Zemens
Aug 7 at 17:57
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
Generally, off the top of my head is usually used to refer to the first thing that pops into your head.
What's the capital of Mauritania?---I don't know off the top of my head, but I could go and look it up.
This is a valid thing to say but you could also say:
I don't know off the top of my head, but it will come to me.
Meaning that it's not immediately available in your mind, but you do know the answer.
By heart implies something slightly different. To know something by heart it to know it inside out. You'd never hesitate to remember something you know by heart because you know it so well.
These are just my opinions and interpretations of the phrases (since you have already supplied the dictionary definitions).
However, given those slight nuances, I would lean towards using:
Our teacher was a really smart person. At the second session, he know everyone's name by heart.
...since your sentence seems to imply that he had picked them up really easily and knows them inside out, rather than just that that he had them in the forefront of his brain.
answered Aug 7 at 10:02
BeeBee
2,9585 silver badges22 bronze badges
add a comment |
A better (IMO) dictionary definition from Lexico is
off the top of one's head
PHRASE
Without careful thought or investigation.
I can't tell you off the top of my head
So in the case of the teacher remembering names, you say
Our teacher was a really smart person. At the second session, he knew everyone's name by heart.
The first phrase is used where you don't "know something by heart", but say the first thing that comes to your mind.
answered Aug 7 at 10:03
Weather VaneWeather Vane
8,6822 gold badges11 silver badges26 bronze badges
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function()
var channelOptions =
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "481"
;
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
createEditor();
);
else
createEditor();
);
function createEditor()
StackExchange.prepareEditor(
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader:
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
,
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
);
);
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fell.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f220527%2foff-the-top-of-ones-head-or-by-heart%23new-answer', 'question_page');
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
Generally, off the top of my head is usually used to refer to the first thing that pops into your head.
What's the capital of Mauritania?---I don't know off the top of my head, but I could go and look it up.
This is a valid thing to say but you could also say:
I don't know off the top of my head, but it will come to me.
Meaning that it's not immediately available in your mind, but you do know the answer.
By heart implies something slightly different. To know something by heart it to know it inside out. You'd never hesitate to remember something you know by heart because you know it so well.
These are just my opinions and interpretations of the phrases (since you have already supplied the dictionary definitions).
However, given those slight nuances, I would lean towards using:
Our teacher was a really smart person. At the second session, he know everyone's name by heart.
...since your sentence seems to imply that he had picked them up really easily and knows them inside out, rather than just that that he had them in the forefront of his brain.
answered Aug 7 at 10:02
BeeBee
2,9585 silver badges22 bronze badges
add a comment |
Generally, off the top of my head is usually used to refer to the first thing that pops into your head.
What's the capital of Mauritania?---I don't know off the top of my head, but I could go and look it up.
This is a valid thing to say but you could also say:
I don't know off the top of my head, but it will come to me.
Meaning that it's not immediately available in your mind, but you do know the answer.
By heart implies something slightly different. To know something by heart it to know it inside out. You'd never hesitate to remember something you know by heart because you know it so well.
These are just my opinions and interpretations of the phrases (since you have already supplied the dictionary definitions).
However, given those slight nuances, I would lean towards using:
Our teacher was a really smart person. At the second session, he know everyone's name by heart.
...since your sentence seems to imply that he had picked them up really easily and knows them inside out, rather than just that that he had them in the forefront of his brain.
answered Aug 7 at 10:02
BeeBee
2,9585 silver badges22 bronze badges
add a comment |
Generally, off the top of my head is usually used to refer to the first thing that pops into your head.
What's the capital of Mauritania?---I don't know off the top of my head, but I could go and look it up.
This is a valid thing to say but you could also say:
I don't know off the top of my head, but it will come to me.
Meaning that it's not immediately available in your mind, but you do know the answer.
By heart implies something slightly different. To know something by heart it to know it inside out. You'd never hesitate to remember something you know by heart because you know it so well.
These are just my opinions and interpretations of the phrases (since you have already supplied the dictionary definitions).
However, given those slight nuances, I would lean towards using:
Our teacher was a really smart person. At the second session, he know everyone's name by heart.
...since your sentence seems to imply that he had picked them up really easily and knows them inside out, rather than just that that he had them in the forefront of his brain.
answered Aug 7 at 10:02
BeeBee
2,9585 silver badges22 bronze badges
Generally, off the top of my head is usually used to refer to the first thing that pops into your head.
What's the capital of Mauritania?---I don't know off the top of my head, but I could go and look it up.
This is a valid thing to say but you could also say:
I don't know off the top of my head, but it will come to me.
Meaning that it's not immediately available in your mind, but you do know the answer.
By heart implies something slightly different. To know something by heart it to know it inside out. You'd never hesitate to remember something you know by heart because you know it so well.
These are just my opinions and interpretations of the phrases (since you have already supplied the dictionary definitions).
However, given those slight nuances, I would lean towards using:
Our teacher was a really smart person. At the second session, he know everyone's name by heart.
...since your sentence seems to imply that he had picked them up really easily and knows them inside out, rather than just that that he had them in the forefront of his brain.
answered Aug 7 at 10:02
BeeBee
2,9585 silver badges22 bronze badges
answered Aug 7 at 10:02
BeeBee
2,9585 silver badges22 bronze badges
answered Aug 7 at 10:02
BeeBee
2,9585 silver badges22 bronze badges
answered Aug 7 at 10:02
BeeBee
2,9585 silver badges22 bronze badges
2,9585 silver badges22 bronze badges
add a comment |
add a comment |
A better (IMO) dictionary definition from Lexico is
off the top of one's head
PHRASE
Without careful thought or investigation.
I can't tell you off the top of my head
So in the case of the teacher remembering names, you say
Our teacher was a really smart person. At the second session, he knew everyone's name by heart.
The first phrase is used where you don't "know something by heart", but say the first thing that comes to your mind.
answered Aug 7 at 10:03
Weather VaneWeather Vane
8,6822 gold badges11 silver badges26 bronze badges
add a comment |
A better (IMO) dictionary definition from Lexico is
off the top of one's head
PHRASE
Without careful thought or investigation.
I can't tell you off the top of my head
So in the case of the teacher remembering names, you say
Our teacher was a really smart person. At the second session, he knew everyone's name by heart.
The first phrase is used where you don't "know something by heart", but say the first thing that comes to your mind.
answered Aug 7 at 10:03
Weather VaneWeather Vane
8,6822 gold badges11 silver badges26 bronze badges
add a comment |
A better (IMO) dictionary definition from Lexico is
off the top of one's head
PHRASE
Without careful thought or investigation.
I can't tell you off the top of my head
So in the case of the teacher remembering names, you say
Our teacher was a really smart person. At the second session, he knew everyone's name by heart.
The first phrase is used where you don't "know something by heart", but say the first thing that comes to your mind.
answered Aug 7 at 10:03
Weather VaneWeather Vane
8,6822 gold badges11 silver badges26 bronze badges
A better (IMO) dictionary definition from Lexico is
off the top of one's head
PHRASE
Without careful thought or investigation.
I can't tell you off the top of my head
So in the case of the teacher remembering names, you say
Our teacher was a really smart person. At the second session, he knew everyone's name by heart.
The first phrase is used where you don't "know something by heart", but say the first thing that comes to your mind.
answered Aug 7 at 10:03
Weather VaneWeather Vane
8,6822 gold badges11 silver badges26 bronze badges
answered Aug 7 at 10:03
Weather VaneWeather Vane
8,6822 gold badges11 silver badges26 bronze badges
answered Aug 7 at 10:03
Weather VaneWeather Vane
8,6822 gold badges11 silver badges26 bronze badges
answered Aug 7 at 10:03
Weather VaneWeather Vane
8,6822 gold badges11 silver badges26 bronze badges
8,6822 gold badges11 silver badges26 bronze badges
add a comment |
add a comment |
Thanks for contributing an answer to English Language Learners Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fell.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f220527%2foff-the-top-of-ones-head-or-by-heart%23new-answer', 'question_page');
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
1
You might want to update the title to include the t from heart. (I would also say off by heart instead of just by heart, but I think they're synonyms so could just be my dialect)
– Smock
Aug 7 at 9:58
@Smock I'm pretty certain they are synonymous
– Bee
Aug 7 at 10:03
You don't need to qualify that idiomatically. It's sufficient to say "he knew all the student's names", or you could qualify it like, "he remembered everyone's names" or "he could recall every student's names despite having only met us once", etc. As a native English speaker, "by heart" is probably more correct in this case than "top of my head", but I feel like "by heart" does not normally apply in this type of case.
– David Zemens
Aug 7 at 17:57