US/GB native speakers please help

[Harvester]

Hi,

I would need the help of some native English speakers (no matter if US or GB).
Does the phrase "love somebody to death" mean that you love someone till the end of the life or that sort of your love kills the other? Or both? Or neither?...

Harvester

[Candle]

mean that you love someone till the end of the life

[Harvester]

Thanks, I hoped so

Harvester

[reneuend]

Wait!

"Love somebody to death" means you really love them a lot! It's an expression of extreme love!

"Love somebody until death" means you love them until end of life.

[Harvester]

At the moment it's 2 to 1 for reneuend's version. Maybe I should have made it a poll

Harvester

[reneuend]

I wonder if its different depending on where you are from?

[Mystery]

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/love+to+death

supports also the 2 votes

[Harvester]

Oh well, that's 3 to 1, and I hoped the 1 will be the winner Well, let's see if there are more opinions, maybe someone will come with a brand new meaning or such
Well, if not, I'll have to accept the 3 to 1 majority and maybe even rewrite a song

Harvester

[Imari]

I'm going to take a wild guess that we're talking about lyrics for a song.

In that case, just mumble "love you to/unto death" and everyone will be looking at the lyrics in context and trying to figure out your true meaning. Hey, it'll be deep.

[reneuend]

Good answer!

[Harvester]

Nice one there! I'll do so, but it's also the song's title... well, I guess then I rather have a song with a little bit different meaning than to make it again

Harvester

[chickens1127]

Exactly. That's what most songwriters do. They throw in these ambigious words and phrases when they're most likely just talking 'bout drugs or partying or something worse. Just to make people think it's deep.

[mercedes]

Wait!

"Love somebody to death" means you really love them a lot! It's an expression of extreme love!

"Love somebody until death" means you love them until end of life.

That's exactly how i see it too...

I believe it came down from wedding vows...Till Death to us part...in the years it's become slang..Love somebody to death~...I don't know..that's how i see it, how it come to pass..

[Harvester]

Well, I haven't ever sang about drugs or partying (or at least I hope so) and try to keep things as serious as possible (or as comic as possible, dependent on the goal), so I guess chickens1127's case hopefully doesn't apply for me (well, at least if the 'something worse' is not a phrase for 'sex that I didn't know ).

I guess then I will finally have to accept that "love sy to death" means extreme love instead of and everlasting one. Nevermind, at most parts that also fits the context, and at other parts it may look as something creative. Well, in that aspect chickens1127 is right. Songwriters tend to do that in case they have a fully recorded song and haven't thought that the words they used might have a completely different meaning than what they used it for But that doesn't mean the song isn't deep. It just gained another layer of depth accidentally

Harvester

[chickens1127]

Yep. Listen to The Good Times Are Killing Me by Modest Mouse, and it sounds really deep, but the whole online community has agreed it's drugs. And if you look at the lyrics, it fits.

[Harvester]

I'm going to listen to it. I must agree that many musicans have this attitude, but as far as I see from my position somewhere at the bottom of this whole musician-hierarchy, the higher the musican gets the most likely one will use drugs and play music affected by it. Or there are the underground ones who use drugs, play music affected by it, but they accept this status in public, thus if someone listens to their songs, they perfectly know that they listen to a song from a band who is a well-known addict or so.
Since I don't have any experience with drugs (okay, I know alcohol and cigarettes are drugs, but those are at least legal ) I don't know much about the connection about the songs themselves and the chemicals. What I think is that no matter if someone uses drugs or not, a song's reception should definitely not be affected by that factor. A song is either good or not, no matter if the artist is a junkie or a saint. However, the person itself should get that criticism and face it's consequences. The problem is not that a song written by a junkie gets popular but that the guy becomes that too. And that would still not be a problem if popularity wouldn't come with such "side-effects" as becoming role-model for many -mostly young- people and such.
To cut it short, in my opinion most underground bands are still unaffected by drugs, or at least their music is. I wouldn't say that about those who you see in MTV or anywhere in the popular media.

Harvester

[chickens1127]

Also, if you want to hear someone really messed up, Lil Wayne. Rapper. Hit it big. Made many songs. Made a lot of money. Used cocaine(most likely). Messed up his voice. Sounds like a 6 year old, just like Justin Beiebr. Go to jail for a year for weapons charges. =

YOURE MESSED UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!