know how to pick 'em

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know how to pick 'em (third-person singular simple present knows how to pick 'em, present participle knowing how to pick 'em, simple past knew how to pick 'em, past participle known how to pick 'em)

1. (colloquial) you have chosen the wrong person
   • 2007, T.N. Baker, Dice, St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 137:

     But they both turned out to be wrong for me. “Yeah, girl, you sure do know how to pick 'em.”

   • 2008, Marcus Wolf, One Lie, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 413:

     He let out a long slow whistle between his teeth, shaking his head. “Boy, you know how to pick 'em, don't you?”

   • 2011, Kate Flora, Death at the Wheel (The Thea Kozak Mystery Series, Book 3), ePublishing Works!, →ISBN, page 89:

     "Jesus, Kozak, you sure know how to pick 'em. Promise me you won't go near him again."

   • 2012, Tina Whittle, Darker Than Any Shadow, Head of Zeus, →ISBN, page 69:

     Garrity closed his eyes and shook his head. “Damn, Tai, you know how to pick 'em.”

   • 2013, George R. R. Martin, Gardner Dozois, Dangerous Women, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 275:

     I sure know how to pick 'em. Except I don't know as I've got any credit coming for this one, because it's hard to make the case that it was me that picked her.

   • 2014, Dean Klinkenberg, Rock Island Lines, Travel Passages, →ISBN, page 58:

     “You sure know how to pick 'em, Frank. That bar, Miguel, a racist bartender. That's a hell of a way to start a night,” Jefferson said. “Yeah,” I said. “I sure can pick 'em.”

2. (colloquial, literally) you are good at picking people or things

Very commonly used in the sarcastic sense and often preceded by sure or sure do. The literal sense usually also refers to people but may occasionally refer to other things.