show me up

Drunk modifies 'you' Say, guy Fred got drunk and by this he made his friend John feel embarrassed in front of his parents( John's parents). Hope I put it in plain words for you.

User_garyshow (somebody up) = to behave in a way which makes someone you are with feel ashamed or embarrassed:


I wish you wouldn't show me up in front of my parents by getting so drunk.

I wonder who `drunk' in this sentence and also I cannot understand the `show me up'. Perhaps, rephrasing the sentence will make more clear. Could you do that?

Really? It looks good to me. Another Brit/US difference somewhere perhaps?

It could be another one of those differences.

An American use would be "I worked on this for two weeks, and you come along and show me up by getting yours done in half a day." You make me look bad by appearing to do something so much better than I did.

Gary's use seems more a simple "embarrass" substitution.

Nona The BritReally? It looks good to me. Another Brit/US difference somewhere perhaps?

Thanks for the input, Nona. That's interesting. Gary's sentence almost seems to use the expression backwards to me.
GG's description fits the way I'd use and understand it.

Obviously, I'm on the west side of the Atlantic on this one. The original example about drunkenness sounds completely anomalous to me. I'm glad I waited for others to repond before yammering on about what a bad example of show me up it was.

How would you interpret this sentence:
Don't argue with me in front of our guests, it shows me up.

Hi Paulio

It should now be obvious that your sentence would sound nonsensical to American ears.
Instead of "it shows

So Yankee, you mean that we could only use 'show me up' and not 'shows me up'? [:^)]

Thanks.