Uncensored English UE03 - idioms - kick ass

Posted on September 2, 2007
Filed under Idioms and slang, Listening, Upper intermediate, Vocabulary, Your questions |

This podcast covers the phrase to kick (someone’s / something’s) ass and kick-ass as an adjective. First we need to talk about the ass part. It can refer to a real ass (butt or bum), but usually the ass is metaphorical. That is, it’s not a question of a real-world, physical ass; the ass stands for something else. In fact, all usages of kick ass that don’t involve a physical foot connecting to a physical ass are metaphorical figures of speech.

For example, “We got our ass(es) kicked in the football game last night” means “The other team beat us by a good margin.” It’s unlikely that any team member’s ass actually had contact with a foot.

The expression kick ass is used as an adjective and in verb phrases. First we’ll look at the verbs.

Transitive use of kick ass in verb phrases

To kick someone’s/something’s ass = to punish someone using physical force, or to beat them in a physical fight.

Examples
1. In a fight, Madonna would totally kick Britney’s ass.
2. If they got in a fight, Britney would get her ass kicked by Madonna.
3. Linda Hamilton might kick Madonna’s ass if they got in a fight.
4. If you steal my chocolate, I’ll kick your ass!
5. I’m not sure if I feel sorry for Paris Hilton, or if I want to kick her ass.

If something kicks your ass, it can mean that it defeats you or causes you great difficulty. It doesn’t have to be a person.

Examples
6. The TOEFL test totally kicked my ass; it was much harder than I thought.
7. My first marathon totally kicked my ass, but at least I made it to the finish line.

Intransitive* use of kick ass in verb phrases
To kick ass = to win, to succeed, to perform well, to be very good at something, to be superior to others. It’s synonymous with other slang expressions like “to rule” or “to own.”

Examples
8. Britney sucks, but Madonna kicks ass!
9. Madonna kicked ass at the concert last night.
10. Google kicks ass for quick’n'dirty language research.
11. Thanks to Better at English, my English kicks ass!
12. A: “Are you ready to climb Mt. Everest?” B: “Yeah, let’s go kick ass!”

The intransitive use of kick ass can also mean “to fight,” “to physically beat someone,” or “to beat someone up.”

Example
13. I’m in the mood for a fight. Let’s go kick some ass.

Kick ass used as an adjective
Adjective = excellent, superior, exciting, fun, impressive (or other adjectives denoting strong approval or positive qualities)
kick-ass (or kickass)

Examples
14. That was a kick-ass party last night.
15. Rammstein put on the most kick-ass concert I’ve ever seen.
16. If you want to see some truly kick-ass presentation videos, go to the TED talks website.

Variations
In verb phrases you can substitute the word butt for ass. For example, “My new dictionary totally kicks butt.” But it’s very unusual to use “kick butt” as an adjective.

Examples
I bought a kick-butt new dictionary.
I bought a kick-ass new dictionary.

Social register and appropriateness
Finally, kick-ass is a fairly harmless informal expression (about on the same level as damn or hell), but not everyone is as liberal as Lori is when it comes to swear words. So you should be careful about how you use it. You shouldn’t use it in formal situations or among people who you know disapprove of slang and swear words.

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