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tinted glasses

Silver

Senior Member
Chinese,Cantonese,Sichuan dialect
Once when I had an online conversation with a girl, she told me a term that I feel uncertain about, I checked it up on many foreign online English only dictionaries, I cannot find a relevant answer, the term is:


Tinted glasses


Here is the original definition of tinted glass:

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-tinted-glass.htm


Whereas, in China, it has another meaning which perplexs me since I don't know if it makes sense to you really, let me make a sentence for you:


Don't wear a pair of tinted glasses because you are a teacher.


The above sentence, from those who understand "tinted glasses", literally means that "Be fair to everyone in your class once you are a teacher", because according to the Chinese, or at least for those who will literally understand this phrase, would consider that when one wear "a pair of tinted glasses", he or she is no longer objective, imagine that everyone has a pair of glasses used for observing, evaluating, judging others, and perhaps this pair of glasses is colorless, but due to the different understanding of others, the pair of glasses is tinted. For example, an ugly girl whom bought a few segments of garlics was ten times charged than a beautiful girl, (at least for the one who sells the garlic, he has his own judgment of beauty and ugliness), so in this occasion, I'll say "The garlic seller wore a pair of tinted glasses when he was doing business."


So, hello everyone, does the word "tinted glasses" makes sense to you?
For me, "tinted glasses" has only a literal meaning. It carries no sense of treating people differently.

There is, of course, the expression "rose-tinted glasses".
rose-tinted glasses (British, American & Australian) also rose-tinted spectacles (British) if someone looks at something through rose-tinted glasses, they see only the pleasant parts of it She has always looked at life through rose-tinted glasses.
(Cambridge Idioms Dictionary)

In American English I think I would hear "rose-colored glasses" much more often than "rose-tinted glasses" but it has the same meaning.

"Tinted glasses" to me just means a pair of glasses with tinting.
We do say idiomatically: "Don't let that color your view of [someone or something]". It is a warning against letting something irrelevant influence how you think about someone.

Like the others, I don't know of an expression that involves tinted glasses, except for those glasses that give you a rosy view of life in general or of something in particular.
Although I'm not sure in what context "tinted glasses" came up. This girl could have been talking about literally "tinted" glasses which in Canada I've heard a few times used as a synonym of sunglasses or mirrored glasses, or any other type of glasses where the eyes of the person wearing them can't be seen.

It's pretty much tinted glass ... made into glasses!
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Hello all, the one who told me the phrase "tinted glasses" is a Chinese girl, I didn't know where she got the term but she just told me pedagogically and seriously, she is a student from a comparatively prestigious university, she also has a dream of being an interpreter.
But personally, I agree with Mr.P, I think "rose-tinted glasses" shall imply the sense of treating others differently, nevertheless "tinted-glass" only has something to do with "glass" itself.
Thank you all very much, and I have to say sorry again for the potential Chinglish mistakes.
For me, "tinted glasses" has only a literal meaning. It carries no sense of treating people differently.

But personally, I agree with Mr.P, I think "rose-tinted glasses" shall does not imply the sense of treating others differently, nevertheless "tinted-glass" only has something to do with "glass" itself.
Thank you all very much, and I have to say sorry again for the potential Chinglish mistakes.

Silver, in English, there is no sense of treating people differently in the meaning of this idiom. People the world differently (only seeing the pleasant things and ignoring the unpleasant things) when wearing "rose-colored glasses".
Silver, in English, there is no sense of treating people differently in the meaning of this idiom. People the world differently (only seeing the pleasant things and ignoring the unpleasant things) when wearing "rose-colored glasses".


Thank you very much, Julian. When I was putting down what Mr.P's quote on my notebook few minutes ago I realized I made a mistake, thank you.
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