You Know Better Than to Ask

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You know better than that - definition

• Thread starter Bambik
• Start date Feb 26, 2011

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• #1

I need help, delight... I take some problems to understand this phrase.
It is from my conversation with i man.
I said " I estimate, you actually don't similar me" ( I know he did before, not certain about information technology now) and he replied " Yous know improve than that..."
What could he perhaps mean by that? What does it mean in other words? Thanks.

• #2

I said " I guess, you really don't like me" ( I know he did before, not sure about it now) and he replied " You know ameliorate than that..."
What could he peradventure mean by that? What does it mean in other words?

He means that what you have just said is non true, and you know information technology.

In this situation, he is maxim that he likes you, and that you lot know he does.

• #iii

If I heard this phrase I would think that a person can mean several things. fivejedjon, do you notice this phrase clear and authentic here? Isn't it ii-faced?

• #4

If I heard this phrase I would think that a person can mean several things. fivejedjon, do yous find this phrase clear and accurate hither? Isn't it two-faced?

When a parent says it to a child who has misbehaved, it can be taken equally a rebuke. In Bambik'southward OP information technology was a reassurance.

With native speakers, information technology is unlikely to exist misunderstood.

• #5

With native speakers, it is unlikely to exist misunderstood.

It is interesting to notice that sure langauges shape a sure thinking. In this case nosotros can run into that the addressee understood all the words he was told (and the words were not rare or difficult) only he nonetheless didn't go the message. I remember I wouldn't take gotten information technology as well. It makes me call back that different langauges shape different thinking or something else, I can't identify what information technology is. If I heard this phrase said in my native langauge I would simply understand that the speaker thinks that I know amend than I have said I know, but I wouldn't recollect that this "improve" would somehow imply that what I have said is non true. Interesting.

• #six

It is interesting to detect that certain langauges shape a certain thinking. In this case we can meet that the leaseholder understood all the words he was told (and the words were not rare or hard) but he however didn't get the message.

Don't forget that Bambik is not a native speaker.

• #7

It is interesting to notice that certain langauges shape a sure thinking. In this case we can see that the addressee understood all the words he was told (and the words were not rare or difficult) but he still didn't become the message. I call back I wouldn't have gotten it too. It makes me think that different langauges shape different thinking or something else, I can't place what it is. If I heard this phrase said in my native langauge I would simply sympathize that the speaker thinks that I know better than I have said I know, just I wouldn't think that this "meliorate" would somehow imply that what I have said is not true. Interesting.

I am not a instructor.

I recall that the phenomenon you lot are seeing is idiom. That sequence of words conveys a idea that cannot be discerned in the words themselves. That same thought would exist expressed in another way in some other language, but the thought is common to us all. If it were non, idiom would not work the way it does. The speaker was gently chiding her (?) for letting her insecurities cloud her outlook, telling her to look into her own heart for the respond which he was assuring her was that he did like her. (Sorry about the convoluted sentence, but it goes to illustrate the power of idiom. With it, a complex idea can be expressed in very few words, words that in and of themselves do not express it.)

• #8

Does it be in a lexicon?

• #9

Does it exist in a dictionary?

It'south in my OALD, 6th edition.

• #11

If I heard this phrase I would think that a person tin mean several things. fivejedjon, do you find this phrase clear and authentic here? Isn't it two-faced?

I retrieve I see why you think it ii-faced. You are assuming (as anyone who didn't know the idiom would assume) that the 'know' in 'know better' had something to do with

knowing

. So that friend of the OP was simply proverb 'You lot know you're incorrect to believe that'.

Just the 'know' in 'know amend' doesn't necessarily have anything to practice with knowing. Information technology tin can but, for example, mean 'knowing how to behave'; a parent might say 'Yous should know better than to play football game in the route'.

b

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