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My wife often uses the phrase "I'll give you into trouble if you do that again" and it seems to be reasonably common in western Scotland, however I can't find any way for it to be grammatically correct.

I can understand "I'll give you trouble" which means the same, or "I'll get you into trouble" which is obviously a bit different.

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1, It's not correct in regular English

2, It might be correct in Western Scotland - don't argue with people who think The Wickerman is a documentary.

3, Your wife is always right - that's the point of wives.

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6
  • Wish I could give you +3 :-)
    – Rory Alsop
    Commented May 4, 2011 at 18:32
  • @Rory Alsop Is Western Scotland seriously rural or something?
    – Uticensis
    Commented May 4, 2011 at 19:06
  • @Billare - don't think Glasgow, with a population of over half a million counts as rural
    – Rory Alsop
    Commented May 4, 2011 at 20:41
  • @Rory Alsop What's with the "who think The Wickerman is a documentary" quip then?
    – Uticensis
    Commented May 4, 2011 at 20:42
  • Western Scotland often means the islands - the Hebrides etc are very rural.
    – mgb
    Commented May 4, 2011 at 20:47
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The phrase sounds similar to the following:

I will deliver you unto trouble

I will deliver you into their hands

After swapping out "deliver" for "give", it seems logical that it is an error derived from "unto". This phrasing is common in the Holy Bible:

Matthew 24:9 Then they will deliver you unto tribulation and will kill you, and you will be hated by all the nations on account of my name.

Isiah 65:12 I will deliver you unto the sword.

Typical English usage of "give you into" would suggesting being given into a location or container:

I will give you into their hands

Even something like "give you into jail" doesn't sound right. "Put you into jail" sounds better.

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6
  • Is "unto trouble," or "into trouble" (first example)?
    – avpaderno
    Commented May 4, 2011 at 20:32
  • @kiam: I don't understand what you are asking.
    – MrHen
    Commented May 4, 2011 at 21:08
  • @MrHen The first example you wrote is "I will deliver you unto trouble." Is it unto, or into?
    – avpaderno
    Commented May 4, 2011 at 21:16
  • @kiam: The phrase is "unto trouble". See the example linked from Matthew 24, which uses "tribulation" instead of "trouble." The second example of "into their hands" is just another similar usage involving "deliver." Both are acceptable but "unto" may be considered dated.
    – MrHen
    Commented May 4, 2011 at 21:25
  • @MrHen That is why I was asking; unto is reported as archaic from the NOAD.
    – avpaderno
    Commented May 4, 2011 at 22:12
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I am from Glasgow and this phrase makes perfect sense to me. I currently live in Cambridge and was recently questioned over the use of this phrase.

The closest English equivalent is "a telling off", it is dialectal and not grammatically incorrect where I come from.

As for The Wickerman, that's just an insulting insinuation.

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1

I'm from Aberdeen and use this all the time, and I'd never come across anyone I'd said it to in Scotland who didn't understand. I moved down south, and someone picked me up on it and I was stumped- I couldn't actually find a different way to get across what I was trying to say! It makes total sense to me colloquially, albeit incorrect English!

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I live in Glasgow. It has evolved in the last 20 years or so as the education system has plummeted. It grates on me every time I hear it. It has developed into the norm unfortunately as it makes no sense at all. Sheer laziness and stupidity. Like "yaldi" More "nedspeak" that has entered common parlance.

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0

This construction is very common in Glasgow. I had always thought that it was an English translation of a Gaelic idiom.

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-1

Put you into trouble.

push you into trouble.

trouble you.

Are better usages.

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