I've been looking into the meaning of "ruin something for someone" in dictionaries, but cannot find any explanation.
I'd like to know what it means in the sentence:
"You ruined that song for Etta James. That is how good it was."
I assume that this means "You deflated Etta's confidence" or something.
What would you say?
Thank you.
Best Answer
As an addendum to Jack O'Flaherty's answer I would also say that in current popular parlance (especially on the internet), "ruining" something for someone means that all the enjoyment of the thing has been removed for that person... most typically in an exaggerated and over-the-top manner. It is almost never meant seriously.
In the quoted example, the "ruining" is occurring at Etta James' expense. He is jokingly implying that the current rendition was so good, Etta James would be embarrassed or ashamed to even perform her song again, as it would just be a pale imitation.