Query: "I've got your number."

[Dan Goncharoff]

I thought the meaning of "I've got your number" is "I know what you're
really like", or "I know what you are really thinking".. It may often be the
case that one ends up saying this about a 'low, contemptible fellow' who is
trying to hide his true character, but one may also say this, without
malice, about another ballplayer whom you can outthink.

Regards
DanG

On Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 6:38 PM, George Thompson <george.thompson at nyu.edu>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Query: "I've got your number."
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>        GAT says "Meanwhile, my own understanding of the expression "I've
> got your number" is not "I can make trouble for you; I can get back at you"
> but "I understand what a  you are"."
>
> On further thought, this I would apply to "I've got your number" and "I've
> got her/his number".
> It seems to me that from time to time I hear a baseball player say "He's
> really got my number", not meaning "He really knows what a sneaking reptile
> I am", but "He really dominates me; I can't buy a hit off of him".
> Probably not the common meaning in 1810, though.
>
> GAT
>
> George A. Thompson
> Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
> Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: George Thompson <george.thompson at nyu.edu>
> Date: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 1:46 pm
> Subject: Re: Query: "I've got your number."
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
> > References to House-numbers, from NY City newspapers:
> ****
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org