# Do Britons use the phrase “Get away!” or “Get away with you!” to mean “Come on!”? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 29, 2015, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-britons-use-the-phrase-get-away-or-get-away-with-you-to-mean-come-on/718817 "2015-04-29T15:39:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-britons-use-the-phrase-get-away-or-get-away-with-you-to-mean-come-on/718817/21 "2015-04-30T10:47:11Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > Whereas in Ireland it’s not so much rare as completely unheard-of. To my Irish ears it sounds like something British, but obsolete. “Get away outta that!” is defo something I’ve heard in Ireland. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-britons-use-the-phrase-get-away-or-get-away-with-you-to-mean-come-on/718817/22 "2015-04-30T11:12:04Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > I always associated the full “get away with you” as being Irish. It’s certainly rare to hear anybody in England say it in full, in my experience. From where I am from “give over” is most common, usually shortened to something approximating “giv o”. I’ve definitely heard get away with you from Southerners. Giver over (or gee o’er, as some of my fiends write it) is a Northern thing, possibly just Yorkshire but probably the surrounding regions too. You’d definitely only hear someone from the south say give over if they had significant influence in their idioelect from people in the North. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-britons-use-the-phrase-get-away-or-get-away-with-you-to-mean-come-on/718817/23 "2015-04-30T11:14:55Z")
> [@TCMF-2L](#): > > For the more forceful (and those who remember The Sweeney) **Shut it!** This only works if you follow it with “…you slag!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-britons-use-the-phrase-get-away-or-get-away-with-you-to-mean-come-on/718817/24 "2015-04-30T12:24:20Z")
If anyone said it to me, I would assume we were filming one of those ancient British sitcoms such as ‘_Are You Being Served ?_’ Or conversely that they were one of those ancient British queens who overtook TV in the last few decades, and somehow multiplied, whilst still appearing as pantomime dames in season. ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-britons-use-the-phrase-get-away-or-get-away-with-you-to-mean-come-on/718817/25 "2015-04-30T12:53:08Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > “Give over” is more weird, if you ask me. ‘Give Over!’ specifically means ‘shut up’\*, and in this form is used by many countries in this context, and even in the US (I hear it in movies), for the same feigned incredulous response to hearing something fantastical. as in ‘whaaaatt…_ **SHuuuuT** _ UP, girlfriend!!’ It’s fairly commonly heard in [Norn Iron](http://www.inyourpocket.com/northern-ireland/belfast/How-till-spake-Norn-Iron-A-guide-to-local-phrases_70619f) too. - whist your noise! ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-britons-use-the-phrase-get-away-or-get-away-with-you-to-mean-come-on/718817/26 "2015-04-30T15:38:32Z")
Fer fuck’s sake you guys - we find some Americanisms incomprehensible too. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-britons-use-the-phrase-get-away-or-get-away-with-you-to-mean-come-on/718817/27 "2015-04-30T15:59:23Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Fer fuck’s sake you guys - we find some Americanisms incomprehensible too. Blimey bob, who rattled your cage? You wanna get over yourself and give it a rest you do. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Shearer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/57b2e6/32.png) [@Shearer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shearer)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-britons-use-the-phrase-get-away-or-get-away-with-you-to-mean-come-on/718817/28 "2015-04-30T17:13:00Z")
chinny beard ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-britons-use-the-phrase-get-away-or-get-away-with-you-to-mean-come-on/718817/29 "2015-04-30T21:34:31Z")
> [@Shearer](#): > > chinny beard Jimmy Hill. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-britons-use-the-phrase-get-away-or-get-away-with-you-to-mean-come-on/718817/30 "2015-04-30T21:57:35Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > “Get away outta that!” is defo something I’ve heard in Ireland. Or “go away”. Is that common or is it just my dad? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-britons-use-the-phrase-get-away-or-get-away-with-you-to-mean-come-on/718817/31 "2015-04-30T22:02:05Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > Or “go away”. Is that common or is it just my dad? As an expression of amazement/amusement/incredulity? Then yes. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-britons-use-the-phrase-get-away-or-get-away-with-you-to-mean-come-on/718817/32 "2015-05-01T00:18:14Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > “Get away outta that!” is defo something I’ve heard in Ireland. “_ **Go** _ way outta that!”, I think you mean. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-britons-use-the-phrase-get-away-or-get-away-with-you-to-mean-come-on/718817/33 "2015-05-01T01:10:17Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Fer fuck’s sake you guys - we find some Americanisms incomprehensible too. Some _Americans_ find some Americanisms incomprehensible too. Ask anyone outside the northeast when “quarter of” is or what is meant by “so don’t I” and get looks as blank as we would from those across the pond. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![duncs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@duncs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duncs)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-britons-use-the-phrase-get-away-or-get-away-with-you-to-mean-come-on/718817/34 "2015-05-01T10:16:20Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > I’ve definitely heard get away with you from Southerners. Giver over (or gee o’er, as some of my fiends write it) is a Northern thing, possibly just Yorkshire but probably the surrounding regions too. You’d definitely only hear someone from the south say give over if they had significant influence in their idioelect from people in the North. Huh? My grandmother uses the term “Give Over” all the time and she’s a Londoner, born and raised. It may be a generation thing, personally I use “Get out” to mean the same thing. I’ve always thought that it was short for “give it over” as in “now give/hand over the real story”, the same way “get out” would mean “get it out” ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-britons-use-the-phrase-get-away-or-get-away-with-you-to-mean-come-on/718817/35 "2015-05-01T12:53:38Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > “_ **Go** _ way outta that!”, I think you mean. 🙂 Both, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Ann12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@Ann12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann12)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-britons-use-the-phrase-get-away-or-get-away-with-you-to-mean-come-on/718817/36 "2015-05-01T13:25:54Z")
A famous “Get out!” is from _Seinfeld_, where Elaine Benes evolved a chest-pushing shove. It started out as a gentle push, but ended like this: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/JBgcgQD5bJs/hqdefault.jpg "Seinfeld Elaine "Get Out"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBgcgQD5bJs) ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-britons-use-the-phrase-get-away-or-get-away-with-you-to-mean-come-on/718817/37 "2015-05-01T16:56:56Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > I always associated the full “get away with you” as being Irish. It’s certainly rare to hear anybody in England say it in full, in my experience. > [@UDS](#): > > Whereas in Ireland it’s not so much rare as completely unheard-of. To my Irish ears it sounds like something British, but obsolete. > [@SciFiSam](#): > > I’ve definitely heard get away with you from Southerners. In the writings of George MacDonald Fraser (and only there), I’ve encountered an alleged Scots equivalent, “tach’ awa’ wi’ ye !” (essential meaning, as throughout this thread, “you are being ridiculous; please desist”). Much though I love Fraser’s stuff, I wonder just a little bit whether he was letting his imagination run away with him here… ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-britons-use-the-phrase-get-away-or-get-away-with-you-to-mean-come-on/718817/38 "2015-05-01T17:39:16Z")
_“Awa’ wi’ ye !”_ would have been fairly common in 19th century Scots. Even in the somewhat refined Kailyard School; and vera probably in early 20th century instances such as Para Handy ( books about a Clyde Pufferboat ), Compton Mackenzie’s Highland tales, and music-hall favourites such as Will Fyffe. \* Dunno about ‘_tach_’’ - Will Fyffe — **[I belong to Glasgow](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNrVkDqPsbM)**. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-britons-use-the-phrase-get-away-or-get-away-with-you-to-mean-come-on/718817/39 "2015-05-01T22:32:04Z")
> [@duncs](#): > > Huh? My grandmother uses the term “Give Over” all the time and she’s a Londoner, born and raised. It may be a generation thing, personally I use “Get out” to mean the same thing. > > I’ve always thought that it was short for “give it over” as in “now give/hand over the real story”, the same way “get out” would mean “get it out” Fair enough. I still can’t picture it with a London accent at all though. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-britons-use-the-phrase-get-away-or-get-away-with-you-to-mean-come-on/718817/40 "2015-05-01T23:53:11Z")
I’ve heard the phrase (word?) “gerrout!” used in a couple of BBC shows. The one I clearly remember was Doc Martin grabbing a rifle away from Chris O’Dowd and angrily shouting “gerrout!”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-britons-use-the-phrase-get-away-or-get-away-with-you-to-mean-come-on/718817.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-britons-use-the-phrase-get-away-or-get-away-with-you-to-mean-come-on/718817.md?page=3)