I'm Korean student.
Now I'm reading the movie script of 'My Girl'
In the movie, Thomas J says ""My mom will skin me alive if she finds I'm out here."
But I don' understand the expression "skin me alive".
Please let me know.
2006-08-03 15:54:49 · 29 answers · asked by Daddy_Long_Legs 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
well, skinning someone alive is peeling their skin off when they are alive. but its a figure of speech and basically means that they he will get in big trouble.
2006-08-03 15:59:00 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well, don't take it literally, but "skinning" someone actually means taking off their skin. I presume the expression came during the days that people hunted game for their meals. They had to skin the game to prepare it for dinner. But, "skin alive" means remove the skin while the person is alive.
Don't worry, his mom wouldn't really do that. He just would be in big trouble with his mother.
2006-08-03 15:59:42 · answer #2 · answered by BluedogGirl 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
"to skin someone alive" literally means to peel the skin off of someone while they are still alive, kind of like how you would peel the skin off of a dead animal to make fur or suede or leather. Figuratively, it means to be in very big trouble and deserving of punishment. Like--I crashed my dad's car last night, when he finds out, he's going to skin me alive!
2006-08-03 16:00:05 · answer #3 · answered by Annie 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It means to punish severely, as in If I find the guy who slashed my tire I'll skin him alive. This hyperbolic expression transfers the barbaric practice of flaying a live prisoner to other forms of punishment. [Colloquial mid-1800s]
2006-08-03 16:04:46 · answer #4 · answered by nickdude07 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
"To skin" means to remove the skin from something, such as a hunter would do while dressing an animal. Here it's being used as a figure of speech, meaning that her mother will punish her severely
2006-08-03 15:59:25 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is an southern (USA) saying that means a bad punishment.
being skinned means haveing your outer layer of fur or skin removed. If you were skinnned while you were still alive
it would be torture.
The saying "skinned alive" is figurative, not literal.
2006-08-03 16:00:21 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It just means that you'll be in trouble and probably punished. No one ever actually gets skinned!
You should really read better scripts.
2006-08-03 15:59:02 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hi "to skin" means to get all your skin be peeled off as an old punishment used to be done on prisoners.
2006-08-03 16:00:31 · answer #8 · answered by gerryvive 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
okay. literally, to skin something means to pull its skin off. (like you would do to a rabbit to prepare it to be eaten.) to skin something alive is do do that while its still alive. obviously, that would hurt really bad. so figuratively, the saying means "to punish severely."
2006-08-03 16:00:21 · answer #9 · answered by Cole 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
To pull or tear ones skin of ones body in a fit of anger. Could be very painful.
2006-08-03 15:58:43 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋