Does "learning the hard way" imply that there was no way learning it otherwise?

Question

Why had the individual learn it that way? Has he been too stupid to conceive matters without having been mistreated? Any ideas?

Answer 1

Learning the hard way: you haven't cared enough about it and have put it off so now you will have to DO something in a harder or more complicated way because you have made the mistake of neglecting it (something that needs to be dealt with) so basically you have made a mistake, and as we all know; you learn from your mistakes.

Answer 2

Learning the Hard way implies that there was also an Easy way.

Typically it means that the bad repercussions were predictable and avoidable. But the person that is "Learning the Hard Way" didn't bother to take note of them.

For example:
A man that bullshits his way through a class, not really paying attention or doing the homework has to take the final at the end. Since he didn't learn anything during the instructional period, he fails the final.

Or a real life example:
As digital cameras started to gain market share, Kodak thought that people would never abandon film, in fact they put out a memo saying that. So they developed their CD program so that a person come bring film to a store, and have it developed and translated onto a special disc that can only be played on a Kodak player that could attach to a TV. The player was like $100 and the discs were like $15 each. Then Kodak released a real digital camera (no film) and a special digital photo printer that could only dock and communicate with Kodak cameras. Basically, Kodak made proprietary choice after proprietary choice and all it did was destroy the market domination Kodak used to have.

Another real life example:
American Car companies are just now trying to improve fuel efficiency and performance. Ford bought Volvo for the respectability that the (former) Swedish company had and then proceeded to drive its name into the ground! The choices American car companies have made have allowed Japanese automakers to grab a significant market share by providing better performance with better fuel efficiency at cheaper rates! And instead of competing, American companies sue states (like California) because apparently having to meet fuel efficiency standards within 8 years that other countries are requiring NOW is unfair. (They lost your law suits by the way.)

And that is learning the hard way.

Answer 3

Learning the hard way does not necessarily imply mistreatment. It's like The School of Hard Knocks being the place you learn things not taught in a book, those things that common sense is the means to learn. There is no such thing as a person being stupid...uneducated by book or experience is more appropriate. I know college educated people that can't cross a street without the lighted green hand. I know high school dropouts that can assemble an engine from what looks like junk on the garage floor. Speaking of which...have you ever accidently locked your car keys in the trunk because you had them in your hand with the packages? That's learning the hard way to leave the keys in the lock until you close the trunk. It's simply trial and error to eliminate the Ooops in your life.

Answer 4

..!.!.!.. "No" ...!.!.!...

And, I'm amazed that you ask this.

The wording, 'the hard way' surely implies, through the words themselves that, if you don't learn (in) One Way, then there has to be An-Other (way - an 'alternative' way).

To learn a lesson 'the hard way' does not mean that the person learning is (as you suggest / state) 'stupid' at all. Neither does 'mistreatment' automatically have to come into play either.

Not knowing you're colourblind and nearly electrocuting yourself as a result does not mean that you are 'stupid.'

Nearly deaf and being run down by a cyclist going the wrong way down a one-way street, does not mean you are 'stupid' because you didn't hear the cyclist yelling out and then telling you that you are .....Doest it?

It means that the lesson to be learnt 'the hard way' is to look BOTH ways when stepping into the road ~ in case there is some fool on a bike who thinks that the rules / laws etc do not apply to him and can mow you down while calling 'You' stupid.

Sash.

Answer 5

learning the hard way to me means doing things wrong, in many different ways but eventually getting it right. This type of learning is difficult cause you make many stupid or obvious errors that if you had paid attention to other peoples experiences could have help you to avoided wasting time and effort. Another way to learn is to do your research in advance of tackling the task. Speak with others, read up about the problem, and check sources such as the internet. Then assimilate the information acquired, and apply it to the task. This should be a far more streamlined process, since you will avoid making mistakes that others have pointed out to you from their experiences.

Answer 6

I believe you're taking too much of a literal perspective.

Consider something that has a potentially great negative impact on you. You may learn by witnessing or heeding the advice of others. Hence, not the hard way.

But some may chose to heed advice or be aware of the effect of situations on others. If they are unfortunate then to be thrust into the experience first hand, they've learned the hard way.

The real question is 'Can lessons be learned without anyone ever being taught the hard way?'

Answer 7

I don't think so. I think learning things the hard way means that you have chosen to do things your own way, make your own mistakes and learn from them, rather than listening to other peoples advise who may have already experienced what you are going through. I remember telling my parents when I was a teenager,"let me do it my way and learn my own mistakes". I now know that many times if I had taken their advise, things would have been a lot easier for me. I'm still glad though, that I did it my way. The lessons I've learned have been hard ones and I will never make those same mistakes again.

Answer 8

Learning something the hard way implies that there is more than one way to learn something. Otherwise it would just be called learning.

Answer 9

Learning the hard way means that you learned a leason by going thru all the hard stuff when there was an easier way of learning the leason. Sometimes this is the best way to learn due to it makes you understand the leason better

Answer 10

My stepfather learnt the hard way that his authoritarian attitude was not something i was prepared to put up with and i chose care over home by age 12. Never regretted it.
My mother is learning the hard way not to critisize my own motherhood. I keep reminding her that i have kept quiet for best part of 30 years and if she will criticise me i might just do some critisizing of her own motherhood in retrospect :-)