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It's a line from "The Marvelous Ms. Maisel" a comedy-drama in the 1950s. The phrase I confused is a line from a comedy stand-up, here are the full story:

I do not charge for sex. I mean, that's free. I mean, it's free to guys I want it to be free to. My husband. Boyfriend. One girl in college. Anyone with a decent ticket to a Sinatra concert. Even my mother would give it up for a Sinatra ticket.

No, she wouldn't. My mother wouldn't give it up for anything, to anyone. Well, my father. She'll- she'll give it up to him. I mean, not that she told me she'd give it up to him.

But I'm assuming. Well, I'm here, so somebody gave up something to somebody at some point.

I understand all the punchlines in these phrases expect the last marked one. I have two questions:

  1. Why mentioned "I'm here"?

  2. Does "somebody gave up something to somebody" mean that people A will give up something in the reason of people B?

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It is often used as a euphemism for sex, for example "do it". In this case, "give something up" roughly means "relinquish something". Specifically, "give it up" roughly means "have sex (with someone)". In "somebody gave something up to somebody", "something" refers to sex, and the first somebody had sex with the second somebody.

The speaker is saying that the mother did not have sex with anyone for any reason, except the father. However, the mother never explicitly said "I would have sex with your father". The speaker assumes the mother had sex with the father because "I'm here", meaning the speaker is alive and present as a result of the parents having sex.

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  • Thank you! You made this line fully understandable to me.
    – scarlett
    Commented Dec 10, 2018 at 2:50
  • I'm glad. But please consider waiting longer before accepting. It gives others a chance to review answers and even write better ones.
    – Em.
    Commented Dec 10, 2018 at 2:52
  • Ohh I see, appreciate it again.
    – scarlett
    Commented Dec 10, 2018 at 6:45

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