Talk:why don't you pick on someone your own size

RFD discussion: January–May 2021

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why don't you pick on someone your own size

Mh, completely SOP? PUC – 13:55, 20 January 2021 (UTC)

Per Lambiam below, I support moving this to someone one's own size. PUC – 18:32, 22 January 2021 (UTC)

I don't think it's always physical size. It might be somebody in a position of less power? Equinox ◑ 21:56, 20 January 2021 (UTC)

Similarly used to punch above one's weight, then? PUC – 10:33, 21 January 2021 (UTC)

• Move to pick on someone your own size. bd2412 T 05:56, 21 January 2021 (UTC)
• Move to pick on someone your own size. I don't think it's completely SOP, but I don't think "why don't you" is a necessary part of the phrase (and if/when it was, it was probably SOP at that point, so the entry need not be kept using the jiffy criterion). Andrew Sheedy (talk) 06:16, 21 January 2021 (UTC)

  @Andrew Sheedy: But what about fight someone one's (own) size ("Can't he fight someone his size?"; "He felt only the satisfaction that he'd shown that man what it was like to fight someone his own size.")? Or challenge someone one's (own) size ("He only used violence with his children because Don Ira would never challenge someone his size."; "He won't have the courage to come around here and challenge someone his own size. ")? Or stand up to someone one's own size ("He lacked the nads to stand up to someone his own size.")? PUC – 10:32, 21 January 2021 (UTC)

  I'm not opposed to moving to "someone one's own size" or whatever variant is most essential to the phrase. "Someone one's size" (without "own") feels weird to me and seems to be missing something. I'd be hesitant to make it the lemma. Perhaps "someone one's size" could be an alt-form entry, with the main entry at "someone one's own size". Andrew Sheedy (talk) 16:32, 21 January 2021 (UTC)

• What about

someone one's own size (plural people one's own size)

1. A putative victim of a bully, one that is not much weaker.

(to be illustrated with suitably chosen quotations or other examples)? The plural can be attested.^[1][2][3] The most common collocations using the idiom should then redirect there.  --Lambiam 14:52, 21 January 2021 (UTC)

One point of interest is that the plural uses the singular "size" ("they should pick on somebody their own size"), which suggests that the phrase is starting to become an indivisible unit. Chuck Entz (talk) 16:04, 21 January 2021 (UTC)

I don't buy it. That only implies that all the people share a size (and we're not talking about real measurable sizes in centimetres or inches, so it could be anything). Equinox ◑ 16:09, 21 January 2021 (UTC)

Notice the qualifiers. Yes, it's possible, which is why I said "suggests". Try searching for "pick on someone their own sizes"- it's vanishingly rare. The mere fact of a heterogeneous group conceptually sharing a size suggests that there's simplification going on. I'm not saying it's there yet, but it seems to be heading in that direction. Chuck Entz (talk) 16:18, 21 January 2021 (UTC)

I’d happily write, “applicants may obtain a marriage licence for partners of their own gender”, which I think does not suggest that the heterogeneous group seeking permission to marry conceptually share a gender.  --Lambiam 15:26, 22 January 2021 (UTC)

Move to someone one's own size. Imetsia (talk) 22:45, 21 January 2021 (UTC)

• If this must be changed from a question, I would prefer pick on someone your own size to keep it as an idiom. Any further truncation would render it non-idiomatic. But I must say I prefer it as it is now; it's a phrase I used to hear in my youth. DonnanZ (talk) 08:56, 22 January 2021 (UTC)

  The oldest uses I can find are “touch someone your own size”, “hit someone your own size”, “take someone your own size”, and “fight with someone your own size”. Obviously, these are not meant literally in the sense that one should grab a measuring tape to size one’s intended victims. The idiomacity is most apparent in the second cited use, where a baby is mock-scolded by turning the meaning upside-down. The literal sense does not make sense there.  --Lambiam 15:16, 22 January 2021 (UTC)

• Keep or move to pick on someone your own size — Dentonius 08:21, 19 February 2021 (UTC)

  Vote is stricken. Imetsia (talk) 19:34, 2 April 2021 (UTC)

• Move to pick on someone your own size. Definitely a common set phrase, often to refer to companies or countries as well. Often used as a command, e.g. Go pick on someone your own size. Someone your own size by itself doesn't relay the harassment and lack of chivalry expressed by pick on and can have any number of other uses, e.g. Everybody put on your boxing gloves and find someone your own size. Also fight someone your size is too literal and SOP for me. Facts707 (talk) 10:04, 5 March 2021 (UTC)

Moved to pick on someone your own size. If there's a more general X on Y your own Z then you're more than welcome to have at it. DAVilla 01:55, 8 May 2021 (UTC)