Idioms get more punch when they're shortened; examples extend back from "My bad!" through "Would you believe?" probably to prehistoric times. Recently my running friend Christina taught me a new one, which she used with her weightlifting trainer:

... perhaps an abridgement of "Bring it on!" — meaning something like, "Challenge me, I'm ready to surprise you!"

(cf. AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs (28 Aug 2002), ...)

TopicLanguage - TopicHumor - 2007-01-26

(correlates: Illusion of Perfectibility, ClubScience, UncleBert, ...)