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Blow hot and cold

Idiomatic Phrase
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

To alternate unpredictably between enthusiasm and indifference, or friendliness and hostility.

Detailed Definition
From Aesop’s fable of the satyr and traveler, this idiom critiques inconsistency. In poetry, it often describes fickle lovers, unreliable allies, or shifting moods of nature or fortune. Poets use it to convey emotional instability, betrayal, or the unreliability of perception. Its thermal imagery—hot/cold—adds sensory contrast, while its rhythmic opposition suits antithetical structures common in sonnets and epigrams exploring duality, change, and the human capacity for contradiction.
Example
Example in poetry:
Fickle lover: “You blow hot and cold—one day vows, next day silence”; Political critique: “Leader blows hot and cold on climate policy, pleasing no one but lobbyists”; Emotional weather: “Her moods blow hot and cold, leaving me seasick in affection’s tide”; Mythic echo: “Like Proteus, he blows hot and cold—truth slips through every grasp.”
Additional Notes
From Aesop’s fable of the satyr and traveler, this idiom critiques inconsistency. In poetry, it describes fickle lovers, unreliable allies, or shifting moods of nature/fortune. Its thermal imagery (hot/cold) adds sensory contrast, suiting antithetical structures. Poets may use it to explore bipolarity, diplomatic duplicity, or seasonal metaphors. Students should note its rhythmic opposition mirrors emotional volatility. Related idioms include “fair-weather friend” and “two-faced.” In political poetry, it condemns opportunism; in love lyrics, it mourns unpredictability. Effective in sonnets where volta reveals the speaker’s own inconsistency.
Also Known As
Be inconsistent Sit on the fence
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