sleep on somebody ?

[paris 06]

What does the following mean, especially "on"?

- You went to sleep on me?

 

[Allen165]

What does the following mean, especially "on"?

- You went to sleep on me?

NOT A TEACHER.

Where did you hear/read that?

"To sleep on someone" is slang, the kind heard in hip-hop circles. For example, "Yo, son, I got mad skills; the rap industry's sleepin' on me." It means to ignore someone or not give them the respect or recognition they feel they deserve.

But that may not be what it means in your example. We need more context.

 

[Allen165]

NOT A TEACHER.

Actually, I think your example has nothing to do with what I wrote in my previous post.

But I think it's colloquial English. You can get rid of "on me" without changing the meaning of the sentence much. It's kind of like writing, "My ankle swelled up on me."

 

[mykwyner]

I think it means, "You fell asleep, and I wasn't expecting you to," or, "You fell asleep, and I needed you to stay awake." It's sort of like, "You walked out on me."

The on implies an action directed toward someone. Also, like Jasmin said,the use of on in this manner is common in American hip-hop slang.

They hatin' on me. (They hate me.)

 

[5jj]

I have my 'boring' hat on.

Context!

 

[JMurray]

I'm with mykwyner on this, unless the context reveals it to be an entirely literal usage in which one person went to sleep while lying on top of another person. It happens.

not a teacher

 

[The Dude]

If it's not the literal meaning, as JMurray mentions, the context is almost certain to be:

"I was just telling you the story of my life and you went to sleep on me!"

The life-story was long and not very exciting, it was the end of a long, hot day and I'd just had a big supper with two glasses of wine. I seem to recognise this scenario...

 

[allenman]

Definitely what "The Dude" says... you fell asleep while I was talking to you. Or while we were doing something. Very common in AmE.

Not a teacher

 

[5jj]

Definitely what "The Dude" says... you fell asleep while I was talking to you. Or while we were doing something. Very common in AmE.

And in BrE

 

[Allen165]

I think it means, "You fell asleep, and I wasn't expecting you to," or, "You fell asleep, and I needed you to stay awake." It's sort of like, "You walked out on me."

The on implies an action directed toward someone. Also, like Jasmin said,the use of on in this manner is common in American hip-hop slang.

They hatin' on me. (They hate me.)

To me, "They hatin' on me" is not the same as saying "They hate me." The former means that someone is saying something negative about you, disrespecting you, etc.