English, baby!

Give me a break!

Date: Nov 13 2003

Quote

1. Quote - Listen to the quote and guess what the slang means.

“Simply put, elves are there to build the toys. They don’t make the batteries. They can’t do everything for everyone. That’s their motto. And they don’t mean that in an obstinate way. Their plate is just full enough. When the battery issue is brought up, it’s like, ‘Give me a break!’”
- Will Ferrell, star of the new movie Elf, talking about the elves that work for Santa Claus and help to make presents for children.

Definition

1. Definition - Study the definition.

In this context:
leave me alone, stop bothering me, stop troubling me, give me a rest from this
Can also mean:
no way, that’s not possible, I don’t believe it, stop trying to fool me

2. Use - Learn how the slang is used.

“Give me a break!” is a very common expression, and it’s important to fully understand how it is used. First of all, it is not the same as “take a break.” One would ask to “take a break” when one is tired, and wants to rest. Saying “Give me a break!” is different, because one is not actually asking to take a rest, rather s/he is asking someone else to stop bothering him/her. When one says “Give me a break!” s/he does NOT want to lay down or to sleep. Rather, s/he is asking to be left alone.
“Give me a break!” can also be used to express disbelief. For example, if someone is telling you something that you know is untrue, you could say, “C’mon. Give me a break! I don’t believe that.”

Examples

1. Examples - Hear some example sentences.

””Mom, I’m tired of you telling me to clean up my room every day. Give me a break! I’ll clean it when I have time. I have lots of homework to do right now.”“

””Give me a break! I’m so sick of hearing about your new car. I don’t care how nice it is. It’s a stupid car.”“

””Janet keeps talking about how in love she is with Jared and about how he’s so sweet. I was just like, ‘Give me a break! I’ve heard enough about your stupid boyfriend.’”“

””Give me a break! I know you didn’t really see Britney Spears at the mall. She wouldn’t be shopping at a normal mall in Florida. She’s too famous for that.”“

””Give me a break! You’re going to New York for spring break? That’s amazing!”“

Winners

1. Winners - See who guessed the slang definition correctly.

Well, Give me a break means something like “Let me be alone in peace just a moment”. Leave somebody alone. Also means like “Come-on” or “Of course, you’re right”... It’s like saying “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Would you please stop talking?” That’s what I know about “Give me a break”.
by Alvaro (La Serena, Chile)
When something is getting on your nerves, something which is hard to believe, then you use the expression for expressing some sort of inner frustration from your body. Example – Joe: I used to sing 100 songs at Jim’s party yesterday. Jack: What, 100 songs? Gimme a break!
by Asad (Karachi, Pakistan)
“Give me a break” here means not again, stop being unreasonable or ridiculous with me, stop trying to fool me. It means they have too much to do, and they do not want to go for the batteries. They have engaged themselves with building the toys. For example, That jerk for mayor? Give me a break!
by Sherry (ShenZhen, China)
i think it means like (give a time), (keep it real), (stop to bother me), (don’t say bulls—t), something like that i think =). a great embrace to my english teacher “caio” if i got it, lol.
by Mario (Florianopolis, Brazil)
Hey, hey, wait a minute. Just relax!
by Sayaka (Niigata, Japan)
It means that “give me a time to have a rest”. Generally speaking, when you feel exhausted and want to rest, but your friends want to call you out, you can say: “oh, come on, man, give me a break. ok?”
by Alex (KL, China)
stop the issue, or drop it, because they had enough of it… something like that – I guess.
by Mary Anne (San Fernando, Philippines)
unbelievable, thought it’s impossible with exhausted situation. Just like”Oh, my god” or “oh no!”
by Major (Dalian, China)
I’ve already completely occupied. So, please, please give me some spare time.
by mimi (Tianjin, China)
“give me a break” that means its too much for him/her or he/she can’t do it.
by vicky (Shanghai, China)
free from busyness or haveing replacement.
by Kshitiz (Sedalia, USA)
that means: have a rest
by Kozmicray (Shanghai, China)
to have some rest.
by Yak (Beijing, China)
I think it means somebody wants to have a rest.
by Puff (SZ, China)
Let me have a rest!
by Ying (Wuhan, China)
relax, have a rest!
by bella (Nanjing, China)
In my opinion,”give me a break” means to have a rest after a long and hard work. In that case you must stop and sit down to relax yourself.
by zizhan (Hangzhou, China)
I think it means to pause naturally.
by Pink (Hanoi, Vietnam)
I would like to means it by follow: comes the proper time, and do give me a excitement.
by flydragon (Chongqing province, China)
cant stand it. dont agree with it
by siriporn (Bangkok, Thailand)
May be “Give me a break” means sorry I can’t beleive it.
by Danial (Meshhed, Iran)
I think it means they don’t stop working until they loose their battery.
by Geni (Bloomington, U.S.A)