Jason: Why is Tony still calling you?
Jen: It’s because he can’t take a hint.
Jason: Well, you should tell him directly that you don’t want to talk to him anymore.

본문에서 Jason이 제게 “Why is Tony still calling you? 왜 아직도 Tony가 너한테 전화하니?”라고 묻자, 저는 “It’s because he can’t take a hint. 눈치를 못 채고 있거든.”이라고 대답했습니다.

그러자 Jason은 “Well, you should tell him directly that you don’t want to talk to him anymore. 그럼, Tony에게 직설적으로 말하지 그래. 더 이상 얘기하고 싶지 않다고 말이야.”라고 대답했습니다.

Now keep today’s expression ‘can’t take a hint’ in mind and let’s hear the conversation again. 그럼 다시 한번 대화를 들어볼까요?

Jason: Why is Tony still calling you?
Jen: It’s because he can’t take a hint.
Jason: Well, you should tell him directly that you don’t want to talk to him anymore.

Today’s expression is can’t take a hint. If you can’t take a hint, you can’t understand or do something that is communicated indirectly.

영어 단어 ‘hint’는 ‘암시’라는 뜻이죠. Take a hint는 '암시를 알아차리다' '눈치를 채다'는 의미로 쓰입니다. 그래서 ‘can’t take a hint’라고 하면 '눈치를 못 채다' ‘눈치 없다’는 뜻이 됩니다.

In today’s example, I tell Jason that Tony won’t stop calling me because he can’t take a hint. 본문에서 제가 Jason에게 Tony는 눈치가 없다고 했습니다.

영어로 “It’s because he can’t take a hint.”라고요. 이렇게 상대방의 암시나, 기분을 알아차리지 못 할 때 쓸 수 있는 표현이 바로 ‘can’t take a hint’입니다.

Now let me give you some example sentences using today’s expression. “Tammy definitely can’t take a hint!”은 “Tammy는 정말 눈치가 없어!”로 해석할 수 있습니다.

Here is another example. “Joe hoped Jessica would take a hint and stop bothering him.”라는 문장을 해석하면 “Joe는 Jessica가 눈치를 채고, 그만 귀찮게 굴기를 바랐다.” 라는 뜻입니다.

Now that you know what today’s expression means, let’s listen to the conversation for the last time.

Jason: Why is Tony still calling you?
Jen: It’s because he can’t take a hint.
Jason: Well, you should tell him directly that you don’t want to talk to him anymore.

Let’s review. If you can’t take a hint, it means that you can’t understand or do something, therefore you can’t behave accordingly. CAN’T TAKE A HINT.