keep your wits about you

[peppy_man]

I recently heard this idiom.
I guess "keep your wits about yourself" is better, folllowing the rule of reｆlexive pronouns.
Which do you native speakers think is better, keep your wits about you or yourself? Thank you.

[Red5]

Why don't you add a poll to this thread and ask members to vote?

[peppy_man]

>Why don't you add a poll to this thread and ask members to vote?

I wish I could. I have no idea how to do that.

[SunnyDay]

I can't help you with the poll thing, but I can say that I've never heard "about yourself;" the phrase always uses "about you."

[peppy_man]

SunnyDay, thank you for your response.
I googled "keep your wits about you" and got more than 140000 hits,
but with "about yourself" I got only 350. I respect your native intuition.

By the way, I recently heard the idiom in the movie 'The Graduate',
in which there is a scene that the main character Benjamin, who graduated from a famous university in the East, asks his old neighborhood friend Elaine out on a date. There her father told Elaine "I want you to keep your wits about you tonight. You never know what tricks Ben picked up back there in the East".

[SunnyDay]

No problem. ^_^

[littlegiant]

And what does it mean?

[Red5]

For information about adding polls to threads, see our FAQ: http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/fa...b_poll_explain

It contains other information members will find interesting too, so read the FAQ!

[bijan]

Originally Posted by SunnyDay

No problem. ^_^

Hi?
My name is bijan how are you?

[SunnyDay]

Originally Posted by littlegiant

And what does it mean?

"Keep your wits about you?" It means to keep thinking clearly and don't get flustered. For example, that father a few posts above assumes that his daughter may be put in a . . . situation, and he doesn't want her to do anything . . . stupid.

And, hi, Bijan. ^_^ I'm doing fine, thanks.