Kristina Lukosevice
What can be meant by "hadn’t gone there"? Dear All, in the story I read, girl invites her boyfriend to dinner with her. When he comes to her place, they start talking about her mother, who's caused a lot of problems to her, and at that moment is suspected of involvement in attempt to murder. Here's some excerpt: "She handed him the wine. “It’s not my mother. It’s not that I don’t think she’s capable of hate or all the rest. It’s just it’s not her way of evening the score. Running me and the family down, finding subtle ways to do that while putting herself in the limelight. That’s her way.” “And this doesn’t do just that?” “I— Oh. Wait. Hadn’t gone there.” Taking the wine with her, she walked over to—unnecessarily—stir the sauce. “No, I don’t think so. " So I am confused about "Hadn’t gone there". Is she saying that she still has to finish cooking (as she is nervous and needs to distract her attention somewhere)? Or maybe this is somehow related to her thoughts about mothers possible crime? " Some other idiom (?) meaning which I was not able to find in dictionaries? Huge thanks for any help!
21. Mai 2020 13:58
Antworten · 5
Ramon Davila, Jon - thanks!
27. Mai 2020
I agree with Ramon - Julia is quite right but I understood it in the way Ramon says. It seems to fit the context better to me.
21. Mai 2020
While Julia's answer is correct about the meaning of the idiom. There is another less common meaning: "thinking about something in a certain way." Like if somebody says "Do you think she is doing that to hurt you?" You can respond with " I hadn't gone there", to mean "I haven't thought about it in that way" Perhaps this meaning makes more sense here. with that meaning, she is replying to him by saying "I hadn't thought about it in that way"
21. Mai 2020
Julia, thanks a lot!
21. Mai 2020
"Don't go there" is a colloquial term and it means "Don't discuss that / That subject is off-limits / Let's not bring that up." So by "Hadn't gone there" she means that she wishes she hadn't started talking about her mother, or "let's pretend I didn't bring that up".
21. Mai 2020
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