Exactly. You can be told the stove is hot, but can you really believe it's hot unless you feel the heat yourself? 🤔

Reminds me of the time I was looking after a friends’ kid. Took him for a curry. Poppadom and dips time, I said “you shouldn’t have that one, its very hot”. After a few minutes of “hhoooo!” said the wisest thing I’ve heard from that age “that’s why I like you, you warned me but let me do it anyway”

… hardly a hot stove, given it was someone else’s kid, but I was willing to let him FAFO with the hot sauce…

Yes! I have a vivid memory of this from my childhood, reaching to touch the coil burner. I knew my parents said to not touch because it was hot, but I had no idea that level of hot even existed!

But not at another living being’s expense!

No, of course not. The saying or proverb about the hot stove has been around much longer than I have. It only means that we learn from personal experience more effectively than we do from advice or an explanation from others.