Talk:have a go

have a go
Rfd-redundant sense: (intransitive, idiomatic) Shout at or tell off unnecessarily or excessively.

I think this is better: "(intransitive, idiomatic, UK) To attack or criticize." DCDuring TALK 19:00, 17 July 2010 (UTC)


 * "Attack" might be worth splitting off, because it can be a physical attack: "come and have a go if you think you're hard enough!" Equinox ◑ 19:15, 17 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Most dictionaries don't find it worth maintaining distinct senses for physical and other attacks. I don't really care. I do care about the many words that have had their (original) physical senses omitted. Are are our contributors so dephysicalized? DCDuring TALK 20:42, 17 July 2010 (UTC)


 * What do you think of this? - -sche (discuss) 02:03, 16 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Looks good. Can it be truly intransitive without a PP usually headed by "at" in the senses under discussion? By which I mean: Does anyone say "I had a go Friday night" or is it always "I had a go at him Friday" or "We had a go (at each other) Friday"? "With" is another possible preposition. DCDuring TALK 02:19, 16 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Well, there's this. There's also this, which I don't understand. Does it mean "fight"? (That would require modifying the "attack" sense slightly.) - -sche (discuss) 02:43, 16 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Of the 133 instances at COCA of "[have] a go", 93 are followed by a PP, 83 of which are headed by "at", usually meaning a fight, but sometimes a verbal confrontation and occasionally sex. At BNC the no-PP uses are a larger share, but "at" maintains its share of the PP heads. And "have a go" is apparently about 25 times more common at BNC than COCA. I don't think that the preposition tightly correlates with the sense, though at implies a conflict or fight (or attempted fight?) Most of the usage with no preposition seemed to be the attempt sense, even more frequent in the UK than the other senses. (What a great age we live in!) DCDuring TALK 03:36, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

kept -- Liliana • 06:28, 23 July 2011 (UTC)