been there, done that

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English

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Etymology

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Ellipsis for "I have been there and have done that".

Pronunciation

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Phrase

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been there, done that

  1. (idiomatic, ironic) An assertion that the speaker has personal experience or knowledge of a particular place or topic and is not too keen on revisiting or redoing it again.
    No, I don't wanna go paragliding. Been there, done that. I found it awful.
    • 2012 May 31, Tasha Robinson, “Film: Review: Snow White And The Huntsman”, in The A.V. Club[1]:
      Huntsman feints at being the Snow White retelling no one has ever seen before, but ultimately becomes the “been there, done that” of fairy-tale filmmaking.
    • 2013, Iris Smyles, Iris Has Free Time, Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint, →ISBN, page 7:
      He looked down at my résumé. “Wow, you interned at The New Yorker. Did you apply there?” ¶ “Nope.” ¶ He looked up. ¶ I gave the line a tug. ¶ “I just felt like, ‘been there, done that,’ you know? Also, I dated a few guys in the office so it would've been awkward.”

Derived terms

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Translations

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