Dictionary

I'm rubber, you're glue en · X

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

An anapodoton from a longer phrase, "I'm rubber, you're glue; whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you".

Meanings

1. (childish) Countering an attack on one's character.
   • “You’re nothing but a — a cheat,” Florence said. “I’m rubber, you’re glue, everything you say sticks right back to you,” John said calmly, complete master with all the answers. 1948, Daniel Curley, “A Deal in Cards”, in The Atlantic Magazine, volume 181, Atlantic Monthly Co., page 61:
   • Few anticommunist accusations are more trite than that Marxism is a religion, the Manifesto a religious tract and Marx himself[…] a ‘religious eschatologist’. At a banal level, to many of the accusers can be said in retort: I am rubber, you are glue. 2022, China Miéville, chapter 6, in A Spectre, Haunting: On the Communist Manifesto, →OCLC:
   • And in the 2016 campaign, Mr. Trump applied the “I’m rubber, you’re glue” approach to a wide range of vulnerabilities. 2024 January 10, Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman, “One of Trump’s Oldest Tactics in Business and Politics: I’m Rubber. You’re Glue.”, in The New York Times:

Forms

Relateds

throw dirt enough, and some will stick · throw things at the wall and see what sticks · I know you are but what am I · throw enough mud at the wall, some of it will stick

Translations (12)

sv den som sa det, var det (I'm rubber, you're glue) · he הַכֹּל חוֹזֵר אֵלֶיךָ וְקָקָה בְּיָדֶיךָ (I'm rubber, you're glue) · ru кто пе́рвый обзыва́ется, тот так и называ́ется (I'm rubber, you're glue) · nl wat je zegt ben je zelf (I'm rubber, you're glue) · hu aki mondja másra, az mondja magára (I'm rubber, you're glue) · pl kto przezywa, sam się tak nazywa (I'm rubber, you're glue) · da det man siger er man selv (I'm rubber, you're glue) · fi se, joka haukkuu, on itse (I'm rubber, you're glue) · it Specchio riflesso se ti muovi sei un cesso (I'm rubber, you're glue) · es rebota, rebota y en tu culo explota (I'm rubber, you're glue) · ro cine zice, ăla este (I'm rubber, you're glue) · de was du sagst, bist du selbst, wenn du deine Klappe hältst (I'm rubber, you're glue)