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Glite Dictionary
you smelt it, you dealt it

you smelt it, you dealt it

9.9
A joking way to blame the person who notices a bad smell for making it
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : el que lo huele, lo hace
  • In school, whenever someone complained about a bad smell, we'd all yell, 'you smelt it, you dealt it!'

Examples

  • He laughed and said, 'you smelt it, you dealt it,' turning the blame back on his friend.

  • When the unpleasant odor wafted through the room, someone teased, 'you smelt it, you dealt it.'

  • When the smell hit the room, I said, 'you smelt it, you dealt it!'

  • Everyone laughed when I said, 'you smelt it, you dealt it!'

  • In the car, when someone noticed a strange odor, we all joked, 'you smelt it, you dealt it!'

  • During our picnic, when someone complained about a foul smell, we laughed and said, 'you smelt it, you dealt it.'

  • At the party, when the unpleasant scent wafted through, someone quickly quipped, 'you smelt it, you dealt it!'

Synonyms

he who smelt it dealt it
vsyou smelt it, you dealt it
  • Baby Talk
9.9

A joking way to say the person who first noticed a bad smell caused it

accuses the listener directly of being the source of the smell

Surface Forms

you smelt it, you dealt it main

Morphology

you + smelt + it, + you + deal + it

All constituent words are basic, but the phrase relies on a jocular rhyme and a non‑standard use of 'dealt' (here meaning 'caused the smell / passed gas') rather than its usual sense of handling. A B1 learner who knows the words might infer a teasing blame for the smell, but the specific slangy shift and the joking formula make the meaning only partially predictable without prior exposure.

Etymology

You smelt it, you dealt it comes from a childish playground rhyme used when someone notices a bad smell, often a fart. The idea is that the person who smelt it must have dealt (caused) it, so the saying simply turns the 'blame' back on the person who complained.