Who am I kidding ?

[ggonak4001]

Who am I kidding ?? what is this sentence meaning??


I can't understand.... when I saw a spiderman, Tobey Maguire says [do you know Who am I? I'm spiderman] yes, i can get this meaning but,,

[Who am I kidding].. is difficult to understand

 

[perpend]

Here's a scenario: You say to your partner, "Today, I'm going to scrub the floors, wash the bedding, and clean the bathroom. Oh, who am I kidding. I'm just going to surf the Web."

In other words, "who am I kidding" means: who am I joking?, who am I fooling? who am I pretending to?. The "who" should technically be "whom".

It is difficult to understand, ggonak. Keep asking questions if you don't get it.

 

[ggonak4001]

Here's a scenario: You say to your partner, "Today, I'm going to scrub the floors, wash the bedding, and clean the bathroom. Oh, who am I kidding. I'm just going to surf the Web."

In other words, "who am I kidding" means: who am I joking?, who am I fooling? who am I pretending to?. The "who" should technically be "whom".

It is difficult to understand, ggonak. Keep asking questions if you don't get it.

Thank you so much Perpend

You means [Who am I kidding = whom an I kidding] and this words is like[ what are you telling me]!!??

I have interpreted this words in Korea It seems ridiculous? weird? a... I am kidding 'whom'

 

[perpend]

There's a saying: Who are you kidding?

That means something like: What are you telling me? That's ridiculous/weird.

But your phrase is: Who am I kidding?

Which is different. To rephrase: There is no one who will be fooled by me.

"Who am I kidding?" is a rhetorical question and means essentially "That's a joke." / "That's not really true."

This is hard to explain! Sorry.

 

[jcaine]

Saying "Who am I kidding?" is the same as saying "I can't lie to MYSELF. I can't fool MYSELF. I know I won't do what I said I would." It implies SELF-deception, or an attempt at self-deception. I think Perpend explained it well. I'm sorry, but I don't understand your last post.

 

[AngelEyes]

ggonak,

perpend has stated it simply. It's a rhetorical question: one you don't expect or need an answer to, especially since you're directing it at yourself, and you know the answer already.

What do you say in Korean when you're mumbling to yourself about something that's so evidently untrue that you have to admit to yourself that even yourself isn't believing a word of it?

This is what the meaning of this expression is.

 

[morzh]

here's my attempt:

Let's try it gradually.

1. To "kid" someone means "to fool someone, to deceive". So when you are kidding yourself, you are trying to "fool yourself into something". Like, say, you are trying to convince yourself you are a good musician, when you know you suck at playing anything you've tried so far. You are lying to yourself.
2. So, when you lie to yourself, at some point, you ask yourself "why am I lying to myself? - I know what I am good at, and what I am not good at. Let me stop fooling myself".
3. Now, make that a rhetorical question (the one that you don't have to answer).
- Who am I kidding? - Who am I trying to deceive? It is me, and I know myself very well. I have to be honets with myself.


Something along these lines.