English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I've used the expression "to be something else" in a lot of different contexts. I'm wondering now whether sometimes I have used it wrongly. This is when I have said it to refer to someone as a mess or a disaster. e.g.:
A: "He lost his phone again".
B: "Really? I can't believe it. He's something else".
Is the use of this expression correct to say such things? Can this phrase be used negatively?
Something else has a pretty broad scope: It can be used both positively or negatively, the only requirement is that it be referring to an extreme.
unusual, esp. extremely good or extremely bad:
TfD:
To be hilarious and extremely entertaining.
Jack's story was something else, wasn't it? I thought I was going to cry, I was laughing so hard!To be very remarkable or intriguing.
That performance was something else, Sarah. I've never seen anything like it!To be abhorrent or repugnant.
I mean, we've all done things we're not proud of. But stealing money from your dying mother? That's something else, Marty.
So, no, you're not wrong to use it as you did.
