Learn English – What does “There’s such a thing as …” mean

existentialsmeaning

In a TV Show I am watching (Doctor Who) there is moment where a character says

There's such a thing as** too keen.

I am wondering what does the "There's such a thing as too [adjective]" mean?

Best Answer

Backing up a bit: "there's such a thing as X" means that X exists. "There's no such thing as X" means that X does not exist.

So:

There's such a thing as a zebra, but there is no such thing as a unicorn.

As for "such a thing as too...", it's a way of saying that too much of a good thing is a bad thing. For example, on my fifth birthday I learned that there was such a thing as too much ice cream. Unfortunately, so did the living room carpet. :)

Now, have a look at these:

There's no such thing as too quiet.
There's such a thing as too quiet.

Both of these sentences have the implied assertion that quiet is desirable. However, the first sentence is saying that absolute silence is the speaker's ideal, and the second is saying that while a certain level of quiet is desirable, too much quiet isn't.

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