The hardest drug I ever took was epidural

[EngLearner]

Source: "Three Blind Mice", a movie (timestamp: 14m07s).

Abigail has taken a break from her studies at college because she's reliant on drugs, but that isn't helping her much. She's trying to conceal from her parents that she's still taking them. The following conversation takes place between her parents:

Father: "Do you think she's still on them, or...?"

Mother: "Keith, I don't know. I know nothing about class A drugs. The hardest drug I ever took was an epidural when I was having Madden to bear."

I wonder why she used the past tense "took" here. Does she mean that an epidural is the hardest drug she's ever taken in her life, and that she took it when she was having Madden to bear? If not, how should what she said be interpreted?

 

[teechar]

Abigail has taken a break from her studies at college because she's reliant on drugs, but that isn't helping her much.

I presume by "that", you mean the break.

Mother: "Keith, I don't know. I know nothing about class A drugs. The hardest drug I ever took was an epidural when I was having Madam there. Madden to bear."

Note the correction. The subtitles are wrong.
By "madam there", she is referring to Abigail.

I wonder why she used the past tense "took" here. Does she mean that an epidural is the hardest drug she's ever taken in her life,

Yes, you'll often see the past tense used with "ever" like that.

and that she took it when she was having Madden to bear?

See above.

 

[EngLearner]

Yes, you'll often see the past tense used with "ever" like that.

Does this version work in the context given:

Keith, I don't know. I know nothing about class A drugs. The hardest drug I've ever taken was an epidural when I was having madam there.

 

[jutfrank]

Yes, this is a classic case of an American speaker using the past simple for life experience where other speakers would use the present perfect. She means I've ever taken, yes.

 

[EngLearner]

What does this mean: "...when I was having madam there."? Does it mean something like "when I was pregnant" or "when I was giving birth"?

 

[Rover_KE]

… when I was giving birth

 

[EngLearner]

Bridget is the captain of her team in lacrosse. Because she's falling behind in her studies, the principal has suspended her in that role and forbidden her to play until her grades improve. Earlier, while she was still on the team, they won a game and wanted to get laurels tatoos to remember that win by. So she's not been on the team for two weeks, and her team go and get those tattoos without her. She gets upset because of that. She then has this conversation with her teacher:

Teacher: "Well, what are you most proud of?"
Bridget: "Lacrosse, I guess."
Teacher: "Must be hard for you not being on the team."
Bridget: "Yeah, well, I've only been gone for a couple of weeks, and it's like I never existed. I mean they got their laurels tatoos without me."

Source: "Evil Teacher", a movie (timestamp: 28m53s).

Is this another example of American English where people who speak other varieties of English would say "...it's like I've never existed...", or is it different in this case? It seems to me like she means up until now.

 

[jutfrank]

Is this another example of American English where people who speak other varieties of English would say "...it's like I've never existed...", or is it different in this case?

I see it as a different case.

Source: "Evil Teacher"

(I might use this as my new signature line.)

 

[EngLearner]

If a man wants a woman to love him, but she doesn't, he might say: "She's never loved me." This means for as long as he can remember (since the first time he met her up until now). In this case, the time period in question is connected to the present.

If the woman dies, then after her death, the man might say: "She never loved me.", i.e. she never loved him while she was alive. In this case, the time period during which she never loved him is not connected to the present. It ended the moment the woman died.

When Bridget says "...it's like I never existed...", what time period in the past that is not connected to the present does she have in mind? Does she mean from the moment she joined the team until she was forbidden to play?

 

[jutfrank]

The time before she left. She's saying her presence to them at the time before she went away did not have a lasting effect on them after she left, or indeed when she got back.