Learn English – the exact meaning of “You’ve got yourself a deal”? Is it only an American slang

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I came across the phrase, ‘got yourself a deal’ being introduced as a vulgar American English by a character in Jeffery Archer’s, fiction “The Fourth Estate.”

In the scene Keith Townsend, Australian press mogul is trying to acquire stock shares of a leading British daily newspaper from Margaret Sherwood who is one of three co-owners of the press and an ardent wish-to-be novelist, Mrs. Sherwood says to Townsend:

“After some considerable thought,” she said, “I have come to a
decision.” Keith held his breath.

“If you have both contracts ready for me to sign by ten o’clock
tomorrow morning, then you have, to use that vulgar American
expression, ‘got yourself a deal.’”

Keith beamed at her. – ib. P453.

I consulted Cambridge, Merriam-Webster, Oxford online English dictionaries, none of which registers ‘got yourself a deal,’ as an idiom.

Although I was able to find the following definitions of “You got yourself a deal” in two English language sites, I don’t know how much I can trust them:

  1. Agreed! We will do business together! – gymglish

  2. A reply to an obvious question. This is a reference to the short movie "Don't Sleep."

    Example:
    Eddie: Are you playing the drums?
    Makeo: You got yourself a deal! – Urban dictionary.

Google Ngram shows that the phrase first emerged around /in 1955 and its usage has been on the sharp rise.

Then questions:

  1. What is the exact meaning of “You got yourself a deal"? Why 'yourself' is needed”? What's wrong with simply saying "You got a deal!'"?
  2. Under what kind of occasions is this phrase usable?
  3. Is this American slang, not used in Britain, Australia and Canada?
  4. Is it a “vulgar expression” as Mrs. Sherwood describes?

Best Answer

It is a pretty common expression in the US. A more formal/"proper" way of saying the same thing would be: "We have a deal."

A few things that make it slang/idiomatic:

  • Using 'you' instead of 'we', even though a deal is typically an arrangement between two or more people.
  • Using 'You got' instead of the more formal: You have got, or You have.
  • The extra 'yourself', which is just redundant and I presume used for emphasis.

I would not call it "vulgar" because there's really nothing inherently offensive about the phrase. Unless one is offended by the less-than-stellar grammar :)

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