Catch you hung up

[aleCcowaN]

"And I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know"

Context: Gotye's song Somebody That I Used to Know (@ 2:55)

I can't wrap my head around the text in red. May somebody explain it for me, chunk by chunk? I understand it by context as "Y no te hubieras quedado reducida/encasillada a/como alguien que conocía, nada más"

[Other thing I've learnt from that song:

to stoop so low = caer tan bajo (to show a reproachable behaviour)
<to stoop doing something = rebajarse a hacer algo (to behave like a person of inferior condition | to show unnecessary weakness of humbleness | to show a behaviour lacking self-respect) > ]

[chileno]

Y no te vería/ví "agarrada" a alguien que conocías.

No he leído lo que dice la canción, pero eso es lo que entiendo de lo escrito en rojo....

Espera por un nativo.

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by aleCcowaN

"And I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know"

It's derived from the colloquial noun hang-up, which means a complex or inhibition (caused by some event). The GDO has

hang-up noun (colloquial) complejo masculine, trauma masculine; she has so many hang-ups tiene tantos complejos or traumas


So 'to be hung up on somebody' means to have emotional problems caused by that person, fixated, etc. Hope that helps.

[Elaina]

I agree with you Perikles......being hung-up on someone is that you have emotionally wrapped yourself up around this other person that it is causing problems in your life......

So does the song imply that this is just something the other person wouldn't do?

Interesting.....

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by Elaina

I agree with you Perikles......being hung-up on someone is that you have emotionally wrapped yourself up around this other person that it is causing problems in your life......

So does the song imply that this is just something the other person wouldn't do?

Interesting.....

In context, I thought she was saying she didn't want him to have a hang-up about her. I'm afraid I was too distracted by wondering how many clothes they had on to listen too closely.

[Elaina]

[chileno]

Originally Posted by Elaina

I agree with you Perikles......being hung-up on someone is that you have emotionally wrapped yourself up around this other person that it is causing problems in your life......

So does the song imply that this is just something the other person wouldn't do?

Interesting.....

Correcto. In Chile agarrado/agarrada = in love, but it also can mean to have a fixation or being emotionally involved with a twist?

[aleCcowaN]

Thank you, everybody. I'm still not sure what role plays "catch" in that phrase. Is it like having someone 'cast' as something or does it suggest that such psychological entanglement comes back when the person evokes the memories?

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by aleCcowaN

Thank you, everybody. I'm still not sure what role plays "catch" in that phrase.

Neither am I. There is a point at which it is not worth analyzing the text to a pop song because the writer is more concerned with rythym than making actual sense. I think that is the case here.

[chileno]

I guess, in chilensis yo diría, "..pillarte agarrado/agarrada..."

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

She says:
You said that you could let it go
And I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know...

To me (and I think I agree with Perikles), she's saying she didn't want him to look for her again and find out he was lying about his statement that he was glad their relationship was over. To "catch" him lying and still being hung-up on her, who shouldn't mean anything to him anymore.