"get over yourself"

Posted by Smokey Stover on February 06, 2006

In Reply to: "Get over yourself" posted by Smokey Stover on February 05, 2006

: : : : I received an e-mail from a friend (not a close one) saying "get over yourself". Does this have a specific meaning?

: : : Yes. This is a fairly recent phrase meaning, 'stop being so pompous and self-important'.

: : : I'm not sure of the origin, although I suspect it to be from down under. There's a similar phrase, 'have you got tickets on yourself', which is Australian.

: : Are you sure it's Australian? I though it was a US import. It's an insult. I agree with the meanings above, but more broadly it means "get a sense of proportion about your own beauty/abilities/problems etc". Pamela

: Looking at it from a slightly different angle, our language uses "get over it" in many contexts, but with generally the same meaning, that is, recover from it. You're ill, I hope you get over it quickly. You're infatuated with a girl who doesn't care about you, get over it. You have a fixation on yourself, get over it. SS

I neglected to show the connection with "get over yourself," obvious though it may be. Here, the illness is "yourself," that is, your fixation on yourself, more specifically your infatuation with yourself. So the phrase implies that however glamorous, scintillating, beautiful and smart this object of your infatuation is, that is, yourself, try to come back to reality. SS