hold my beer

Suggesting that the speaker is interrupting their consumption of beer in order to engage in an act of alcohol-induced bravado.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /həʊld maɪ bɪə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /hoʊld maɪ bɪɹ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

hold my beer

1. (humorous, imperative, originally) I am about to start a fight.
2. (humorous, imperative, US) I am about to attempt something dangerous and/or stupid.
   • 2008, Kiven Hopper, One Hundred and One Dirty Nasty Disgusting Jokes You'll Love Reading, page 227:

     98% of Americans say 'oh shit' before going into the ditch on a slippery road. The other 2% are from Minnesota and they say, ‘hold my beer and watch this.’

   • 2010, Virginia Alene, Catch And Release, page 18:

     When he says “Hold my beer and watch this” What he means is “I'm a crazy Redneck and love to show off.”

3. (humorous, imperative, US) I will outperform someone who did something foolish by doing something even more foolish.
   • 2016, Tom Phillips et al., “18 Tweets About How America Has Out-Brexited Brexit”, in BuzzFeed:

     BRITAIN: Brexit is the stupidest, most self-destructive act a country could undertake.
     USA: Hold my beer.

• An abbreviation of the longer phrase “Hold my beer and watch this”.