static

Hi!

I watched 'The Bodyguard' with Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner. In one scene Farmer (Costner's character), who is a bodyguard, was introduced to Rachel (Houston's character), a singer superstar, by her manager. They had the following conversation:

Manager: She won't give you any static. You got my word.
Farmer: Sure she will.

I wonder what 'static' means here. At first I thought that knowing Rachel's spunky character the manager wanted to say that Farmer wouldn't have time to rest (be static, not moving). But the answer didn't cohere with this meaning. If Farmer wanted to agree to the negative sentence (and there was no doubt that he wouldn't have time to rest) he should have said, 'Sure she won't', I think nobody with good grammar would use the positive sentence to agree to the negative one, right? So I developed a second theory, maybe 'static' means something like trouble or mess as in the TV static on the screen, so Farmer of course didn't believe the manager on that one and said 'Sure she will (get me into trouble)'. So which of my two guesses is the right one?

Thanks in advance!

This might help you:

give someone static
Fig. to argue with someone; to give someone back talk. I want you to do it and do it now! Don't give me any static!

Source : thefreedictionary.com : give someone static

iMak7 said:

So I developed a second theory, maybe 'static' means something like trouble or mess as in the TV static on the screen,

👁 Thumbs Up :thumbsup:
That is the origin of "to give someone static."

Oh, thanks so much to both of you!