BEAT THAT WITH A STICK

Question

Hi,I don't understand the whole meaning of this paragraph:'... your shows will sound like the highlights of an average show all the way through. You wiil have a 10 for the begining, a 10 for the middle, and a 10 for the ending, with different mood swings, of course, and YOU CAN'T BEAT THAT WITH A STICK.'                        Someone to help me?Thanks, jo.

Pieanne · Accepted Answer

It can be related to this: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=78053&dict=CALD

Your show is wonderful, nobody can criticize it.

Marius Hancu · Answer

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ya can't beat that with a stick! : a positive response, an addition
onto the common "you can't beat that"

http://www.coalregion.com/speak/speakXYZ.htm
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CalifJim · Answer

You can't beat that with a stick is intended to be a humorous extension of You can't beat that.

1. To beat means to do better than (something, somebody), for example,

The runner beat the world record in the 1000-meter event.

2. To beat also means to strike repeatedly to inflict harm (with fists, a club, a stick), for example,

The gang ended up beating the man to death.

The "humor" is the combination of both meanings in one, taking the common idiom You can't beat that (You can't do better than that) with the first meaning and extending it as if beat had the second meaning.

The combination is not unique to this excerpt, by the way. It is fairly frequently heard, but not as often as the plain idiom without the extension.

Considering that this is said in the context of music, where a conductor may "beat time" with a baton (also called a stick), there is a rather clever third layer of associations here.

CJ

Tidus · Answer

It means that this is as good as you might expect, or, you won't get better than this, or, this outcome is better than expected.

BEAT THAT WITH A STICK

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