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This question builds off of another question (Meaning of fck you) but my question pertains to the expression "you love it". Here are three examples of its usage.

1] From Youth in Revolt (Youth in Revolt):

A boy named Nick met his colleague, a girl, in a music shop while purchasing a DVD and after a little talk, her boyfriend hugged her from behind in front of Nick. Then the girl chuckles and says: "Chad, fuck you". He replies — "Oh, fuck you, you love it."

2] From Bender (Bender):

"Shut up baby, you love it"

3] From the game Dragon Age 2 (Dragon Age 2):

Isabela: You know those stains never came out
Aveline: You are horrible, every inch
Isabela: You love it big girl, and you owe me for the bottle

This expression, "you love it", seems to be gaining popularity. We've found other occurrences of it in songs. It's also a popular hashtag on Twitter where we see variants such as #YouKnowYouLoveIt and #YouGottaLoveIt. For those who really love to say "you love it", we now have a website at www.uluvit.com.

While its meaning may be obvious to some, its usage patterns seem to have something subtle going on. Can we distinguish the different uses and explain when and how to employ them?

Another interesting question is WHO can use the expression "you love it"? Can anyone use it or is it typically used by a certain type of person, for instance a certain personality type? Or can it only be used between two people with a certain kind of relationship? What are the prerequisites for the relationship in order for one person to be able to say "you love it" to another? Appropriate for a pick up line? Appropriate for a first date? etc.

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2 Answers

up vote 3 down vote

You love it.

You're telling someone how they feel in spite of the fact that they just stated otherwise. On its face, it isn't a very "nice" thing to say, so it should be used between two people that know each other fairly well.

Shock value is inversely proportionate to use. As it gains popularity, it will lose shock value for most people.

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up vote 3 down vote

Cornbread ninja's answer is admirable - I add this only to correct the misapprehension that this is something recent. I know it's been current throughout my lifetime; and GoogleBooksing the phrase yielded these two hits on the very first page:

1927 Edna Ferber, The Royal Family. Yes, you've got to leave, and go down to a stuffy dressing room and smear paint on your face and go out on the stage and speak a lot of fool lines, and you love it! You love it! You couldn’t live without it!

1935 D.H. Lawrence, Women in Love. And all the rest is pretence--but you love it. You love the sham spirituality, it's your food. And why? Because of the dirt underneath.

The relationship is more directly parallel to your examples —affectionate rather than hostile— and the characters in both are somewhat more articulate (not to say stagey) than yours. But the expression's the same, and it means the same thing.

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Those are great examples, thank you StoneyB. It raises another question. Can we characterize what the "it" tends to refer to in "you love it". In many of the cases it's something dirty or taboo. In some cases it's implied that the speaker has done something negative to the other person and the speaker is somehow trying to convince the other person that it was a good thing. But I've also seen cases where the "it" is something positive and the speaker is somehow trying to heighten the other person's joy. – Michael Osofsky Oct 18 '12 at 4:41

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