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Glite Dictionary
you should see the other guy

you should see the other guy

9.7
Says as a joke to show someone else is more hurt after a fight
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : ¡deberías ver al otro!
  • I got a black eye, but you should see the other guy!

Examples

  • When I walked into work with a black eye, I just said, you should see the other guy.

  • He broke his arm in a fight, but he told everyone, "you should see the other guy."

  • After coming home with a bruised face, he joked, 'you should see the other guy.'

  • After the fight, he said, 'you should see the other guy!'

  • After coming home with a bruised face, he joked, 'you should see the other guy.'

  • He broke his arm in a fight, but he told everyone, 'you should see the other guy.'

  • When I walked into work with a black eye, I just said, 'you should see the other guy'.

Synonyms

see the other guy
vsyou should see the other guy
  • Informal
9.4

A joking way to say the other person was hurt more after a fight

is the same joke but uses a direct you address and more informal phrasing

Surface Forms

you should see the other guy main

Morphology

you + should + see + the + other + guy

The literal combination of 'you', 'should', 'see', 'the', 'other', 'guy' yields a straightforward directive to look at another man, but the phrase's conventional ironic meaning — downplaying one's own injuries by implying the other person is worse off — is a pragmatic, culturally bound use not predictable from the words alone. A B1 learner who knows the constituent words but has not encountered this formulaic use will likely interpret it literally or miss the humorous implicature, so the expression is not transparently compositional.

Etymology

You should see the other guy comes from fights or boxing, where a hurt person points to the other guy who looks even worse. It is said jokingly 'to make your injury seem small' or 'to say someone else is more hurt'.