son of a gun
24
8.3
- idiom
- /sʌn əv ə ɡʌn/
- Informal
:
pillo
- You're one lucky son of a gun.
- lucky son of a gun
- doggone son of a gun
- tough son of a gun
He says that son of a gun stole the scene.
- He says that son of a gun stole the scene.
Examples
-
Well, he can consider himself a lucky son of a gun.
Fiction book (2001) -
You son of a gun, ya!
-
Come here, you son of a gun!
-
That little son of a gun.
-
Come on, you son of a gun.
-
Oh, that son of a gun.
-
- You old son of a gun!
-
That son of a gun found some way to find out some information about me that nobody else knows.
-
I know that I'm one fortunate son of a gun.
Fiction book (2002) -
You did it, you clever son of a gun!
Surface Forms
Morphology
son + of + a + gun
The affectionate/exclamatory meaning of 'son of a gun' cannot be deduced from the literal meanings of 'son' and 'gun' — there is no straightforward compositional logic that yields 'tough or admirable person' or an exclamation of surprise. This expression is idiomatic and euphemistic, so a B1 learner who knows the individual words would likely not infer the phrase's conventional meaning without prior exposure.
Etymology
Son of a gun may come from life on old warships: when sailors had babies on board, births sometimes happened between the ship's guns, so the child was literally a son born by a gun. That's why the phrase became a friendly, slightly 'cheeky' name for someone 'tough' or clever and is used to show 'surprise' or 'admiration'.