[Vocabulary] catch me doing it

[notletrest]

A Chinese books holds : when "Catch me doing it" means " I won't do it !", you can't change me into you or him etc in such usage. But I came across: " Catch the old man givng up a glss of beer to buy his kid a chocolate bar." by ALbert Maltz. Please say something about it. Thanks!

 

[BobK]

A Chinese books holds : when "Catch me doing it" means " I won't do it !", you can't change me into you or him etc in such usage. But I came across: " Catch the old man givng up a glass of beer to buy his kid a chocolate bar." by ALbert Maltz. Please say something about it. Thanks!

Did the book say this? 'You' and 'him' are certainly less common, and can sound odd. But as your 'old man' example shows the third person is possible; and the second person could happen. For example, I am not known to be very sociable. If an invitation to a school reunion came in the post I can imagine MrsK saying 'Catch you going to that!

Incidentally, in your example 'the old man' may not have been very old - in fact, guessing from the age of the children, he was probably in his twenties or thirties. 'The old man' is an informal synonym in this case for 'their father'. Strangley, a really old man would probably - in this register - be referred to as 'the old boy'.

b

 

[BobK]

I've been thinking about what makes 'Catch you doing X' sound odd. I think it's because 'Catch <anyone>...' implies a belief on the part of the speaker ['I or s/he isn't likely to do it']. The implied belief 'You're not likely to do this' can make it sound odd. But as I said in the last post, it's not impossible.

b

 

[notletrest]

I've been thinking about what makes 'Catch you doing X' sound odd. I think it's because 'Catch <anyone>...' implies a belief on the part of the speaker ['I or s/he isn't likely to do it']. The implied belief 'You're not likely to do this' can make it sound odd. But as I said in the last post, it's not impossible.

b

I'll follow you! thank a lot!