The Multiple Meanings of “What Do You Know?!?”

Or Should That Be, “Whddya Know?!?”

“What do you know?!” might very well be the Swiss Army knife of expressions.

I count no fewer than five different meanings:

#1. What do you know about something nefarious.

Police to burglary suspect: “a Rolex watch is missing from the hotel room; what do you know [about it]?”

#2. “I’ll be!” (sometimes, preceded by “Well” and substituting “whaddya” for “what do you.”  Often uttered to one’s self, in a disbelieving or stunned tone:

News headline: “Kim Kardashian just won the Nobel prize for literature.”
Reader: “Well, whaddya know?!?”

#3. Disqualifying, usually deployed when someone is losing an argument badly.  Often uttered defiantly, with “you” emphasized:

Parent: “High school dropouts seldom find jobs that pay more than $1 million a year.”
Child: “What do you know??”  But see, “Kim Kardashian” (or should be that be “butt?”).

#4. Greeting.

To friend, uttered enthusiastically (and declaratively, vs. inquisitively).

“What do you know!!” See also, “How’s it going?”

#5. Evaluative.

Job interviewer to job candidate: “What do you know about [fill in the blank]?”

Example: “What do you know about transductive quantum mechanics?” (sound impressive? I made that up 🙂 ).

See also, “The Many Guises of ‘Hot Dog’“; and “Which “Done” Did They Mean??”



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