In 1953 film the wild one, there is a line:
Question: What are you rebelling against?
Answer: what have you got?
I don't understand the meaning of the answer.
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2He asks "What have you got?" meaning "What have you got for me to rebel against?" Implicitly, he's saying that he rebels against all and everything that the original speaker could list. – DyingIsFun Jan 27 '16 at 01:27
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1I guess it's something like "try me, I could rebel against anything"? – fnune Jan 27 '16 at 01:27
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1More context is needed, but one meaning for that would be—"Name me anything, and I'm probably rebelling against it." – ralph.m Jan 27 '16 at 01:28
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1Related: How widely accepted is "What do you got?" to Americans? In The Wild One, by the way, Johnny does not use the word have in his famous line. – Sven Yargs Jan 27 '16 at 06:47
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@SvenYargs, "What do you got"? – Aki Jan 28 '16 at 03:01
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@Aki: It sounds like "whudduhyuh got" and the first three syllables are pronounced identically to the first three syllables of "whudduhyuh want" ["what do you want"]. – Sven Yargs Jan 28 '16 at 03:37
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"What have you got?" means "What are my options?" The same as if you walked into a diner and wanted to know what's on the menu.
Hot Licks
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2Whilst correct generally, this is the wrong interpretation in the context of the film. Silenus' comment has it right. – peterG Jan 27 '16 at 02:18
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1@peterG - Why do you say that? The idiomatic meaning is "What are my options?" In the context of the movie's question this would mean "What are the things I might rebel against." Most native American English speakers would have immediately comprehended the idiomatic meaning and how it applied in this situation. – Hot Licks Jan 27 '16 at 02:30
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1On reflection, not exactly a wrong interpretation, but I think your answer conveys the wrong shade of meaning - it's too passive. Although the original phrase is configured as a question, its meaning is not interrogative, it's more akin to an exclamation - "Everything!" It's not really the same as walking into a diner. – peterG Jan 27 '16 at 02:37
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