[Vocabulary] Hookah is alive/dead

[0935]

Hi. Is it OK useAlive/dead to say Hookah is alive or dead meaning:

* (I’m/not) getting enough smoke.

* (not) getting thick smoke.

* (It) makes thick smoke.

* (It)doesn't make thick smoke.
* Hookah is/isn't not producing enough smoke.

How about Pipes or cigarettes?

How does this sentence sound to you?


Note: In order for a hookah to reach its highest point and produce thick smoke, one should inhale the smoke through the hose several times. If one does not inhale for a minute tobacco will not get enough heat and does not produce thick smoke again.

 

[BobK]

I don't understand the question... but I know you need a 'The' (or some other determiner) before 'hookah'.

b

 

[0935]

I don't understand the question... but I know you need a 'The' (or some other determiner) before 'hookah'.

b

I mean, keeping a pipe lit or letting it goes out while smoking.
or should I use "lit" for "alive" and "out" for "dead."

 

[BobK]

You can use 'dead', but not 'alive'. People use 'gone out' more than 'dead' though; even 'gone dead'. The opposite is 'going': 'In the wind and rain, it was hard to light his pipe. And when he did get it going it kept going out.'

b

 

[Tdol]

It seems OK with shisha, but cigarettes don't tend to burn out, so it doesn't sound very natural to me there.

 

[BobK]

:up: (That's why I used a pipe in my example. But never having smoked one, I don't if even that works (as an example).

b

 

[Jill Dorchester]

Having absolutely no personal experience with smoking a hookah or communal pipe or a bong or any of those Reefer Madness-type gadgets, I can only report hearsay. And from what I've heard, it's common to state that the hookah/communal pipe "is dead" when no smoke is forthcoming and it needs to be re-ignited. "Hand me your lighter, this is dead." However, "alive" is not commonly used as the opposite; instead the hookah/pipe will be described as "lit", as in "Be careful, it's still lit."

Cigarettes are rarely discussed in the same way, as they aren't usually shared or passed around. But usually one wouldn't use "dead" when describing a cigarette that is no longer burning; one would say that it had "gone out." "Oh, darn, my cigarette went out. Do you have a match?"

 

[emsr2d2]

The hookah's gone out.

 

[BobK]

:up: 'Gone out' is a good all-purpose expression for all kinds of things that stop doing something that depends on a flame - a fire, a candle, a pilot light, a pipe...

b