Grammar question: meaning of "I have you beat"

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hereinchina
Posts: 119
Joined: Fri May 29, 2009 1:47 pm

Grammar question: meaning of "I have you beat"

Post by hereinchina » Thu Sep 16, 2010 2:16 pm

Hello,
What is the meaning of the expression "I have you beat" in general and what does it mean in the following sentences?
1. I know you can drink a lot but I have you beat.
2. I have you beat. I cried 3 times at that movie.
3. I have you beat. I have four girlfriends.
4. Mike: What's the strangest food you've ever eaten? Greg: A dead mouse. Mike: I have you beat. I ate a live mouse.
5. I know that you spent a lot of money, four hundred dollars, on your hair cut. However, I have you beat. I spent five hundred on mine. :roll:

fluffyhamster
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Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2004 6:57 pm
Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again

Post by fluffyhamster » Thu Sep 16, 2010 2:34 pm

It means 'I have beaten you, that is, "won", in that I have done more of, have a "higher score" in, this particular activity than you have'.

So everyday activities are being viewed like they are a game, sport or competition - 'X CAN BECOME A COMPETITIVE GAME; anything and everything can become competitive among silly humans!'.

I can't think offhand of other verbs than 'have X sussed' that take this 'have X beat' monosyllabic structure (?have you beaten or have beaten you obviously breaks the 'I-have-you-beat' monosyllabicness with its bisyllabic 'beaten'), but if I find anything approaching a list of such verbs in one of my grammars I'll let you know. :wink: Main thing though is that this structure (with its non-use of the past participle, i.e. its use of the plain form of the verb rather than the p.p) is probably atypical and not that productive compared to the usual processes at work in the language as a whole.

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