Odd phrase

[FraDon]

I'm 73 and just got hearing aids. I'm suddenly struck by the phrase "hard of hearing". We don't call people with a limp "hard of walking", or folks with a speech impediment "hard of talking". Where does it come from?

[dweller]

1. Those impaired

with hard of thinking



✌🏻

[Bayard]

2. Congrats!

My first pair of hearing aids are on order (so weird to even say that).

[Biophilic]

3. Easier to say then 'I'm hard of hearing'. Which is easier to say then 'I have a hard time hearing'.

I’ve had hearing aids for over 20 years and yes, I find it hard to have poor hearing. See not such an odd term after all. Welcome to the club. Those hearing aids will help you keep your brain working in top shape.

[unblock]

4. apparently "hard to learn" and "hard to sleep" used to be used to describe some people as well:

not the usage, not as a topic being "hard to learn", but meaning a student being "hard to learn", i.e., not good at learning.

but it seems "hard of hearing" is perhaps the only such phrase still in use.

http://www.word-detective.com/2011/09/hard-of-hearing/#:~:text=In%20the%2015th%20century%2C%20the,%E2%80%9Chard%20of%20hearing%E2%80%9D%20today.

The short answer to the question is that we used to say such things all the time, using “hard” in the general sense of “not easily capable; having difficulty in doing something.” From the 15th century until the mid-19th century, for instance, it was common to say that an unsuccessful student was “hard to learn” (“Of slow capacitie, and hard to learn and conceive,” 1579) or that an insomniac was “hard to sleep” (“I have been very hard to sleep too, and last night I was all but sleepless,” Charles Dickens, 1858).


ETA: note this may be the only remaining use of "hard of..." with this usage, but there are other similar phrases with the same structure, such as "short of breath" or "Hast thou not heard say: ‘All long of beard are little of wits? Indeed, after the measure of the length of the beard is the lack of sense; and this is a well-known thing among men of understanding.’"