We say, “I could use a hug.” 

We mean:

“I could use your help in removing these anvils from my shoulders.

You see, someone replaced my collarbone

with a bicycle handlebar and I can’t move.

For some reason, my lungs shrunk, and my heart –

My heart seems to have broken somehow.

My thinking is a second pair of arms might help to lift these anvils,

A second set of lungs might give mine room to breathe,

A second heartbeat might console.

(It won’t fix, but a bit of glue doesn’t go amiss)

I don’t know what to do about my collarbone,

But some support might do something, which is better than nothing…”

We say, “I could use a hug.”