resemble that remark
- idiom
- Informal
- Hearing the joke about chocolate lovers, I couldn't help but say, 'I resemble that remark.'
Examples
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When her brother joked about procrastinators, she grinned and said, 'resemble that remark.'
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I resemble that remark about being late!
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After being teased for always being late, he replied, 'resemble that remark!'
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I resemble that remark!
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After being teased for always being late, he replied, 'resemble that remark!'
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Hearing the joke about chocolate lovers, I couldn't help but say, 'I resemble that remark.'
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When her brother joked about procrastinators, she grinned and said, 'resemble that remark.'
Surface Forms
Morphology
The individual words ('resemble' = have a likeness; 'that remark' = the comment) provide a clue, but the phrase uses a playful, figurative mapping: it means 'that comment applies to me' rather than a literal likeness to a remark. Because the meaning depends on pragmatic/ironic use and a metaphorical extension of 'resemble', learners who know the words might guess something close but would not reliably derive the exact humorous/self-deprecating sense without prior exposure.
Etymology
Resemble that remark is a joking reply that plays on the sentence 'I resent that remark' by swapping the word 'resent' for resemble. By using resemble ('to look like') the speaker accepts the comment in a funny, self-deprecating way, so it means 'that applies to me'.