Hi, everybody. Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online eu falo sobre expressões do inglês com a palavra rub.

Transcrição

Hello, how’s it going? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Today I’m gonna talk abouta couple of idiomatic expressions with the word RUB. R-U-B, rub. I guess the most trivial meaning of rub… Probably one of the first meanings you’re gonna find in the dictionary is “to apply pressure and friction.” You know when you rub your friend’s shoulders? Or your boyfriend’s, girlfriend’s, your spouse’s shoulders? You rub their shoulders to help them relax, for example.

That’s not really the meaning we’re focusing on today, so let’s move right along and I’ll give you an example to illustrate the first expression. Imagine there’s a new guy at work. He started in your department a couple of weeks ago and at first he seemed like a really nice guy but after two or three days you started to feel a little annoyed by him. After a while you figure it’s something about the way he talks – you think he is being insincere to everyone.

So your friend Melissa says “Michael seems like a nice guy, don’t you think?” And you say “Hmmm, I don’t know. There’s something about him I don’t like”. And Melissa asks you “What is it?” You’re not even sure about the reasons yourself, so you say “He just rubs me the wrong way”. Again: He just rubs me the wrong way.

When someone rubs you the wrong way, you’re not very inclined to like them. Sometimes you know you don’t like them. You may not know exactly what the reasons are for that because… you haven’t given it much thought, but you know that they’re not your favorite person in the world. “He just rubs me the wrong way”. So when a person says that about someone else, they usually can’t be very specific about the reasons why they don’t like the other person. This is more generic in meaning than “I don’t like him because he stole my money”.

He rubs me the wrong way, or she rubs me the wrong way, is for… when you have a feeling about that person; something about them bugs you. Maybe it’s the way they talk, maybe it’s the way they act… They just rub you the wrong way.

And here’s another one with RUB: rub it in. The dictionary definition says that “to rub it in” means to make someone feel worse about something or to keep talking about something that makes that person feel embarrassed or upset.

Here’s an example: let’s say your friend Jane was supposed to make reservations for your friend Mark’s birthday dinner. Well, she screwed up. She forgot, she thought you were supposed to do it, then she remembered but it was too late… So you see Jane today and you say “Well Jane, I’ll never ask you to take care of reservations again…” And then on Saturday when you and Jane meet with some other friends, you bring it up again: “Don’t ask Jane to make reservations… She’ll screw it up” Now Jane is upset and she says “Hey, I know I screwed up but you don’t have to keep rubbing it in”. You don’t have to keep talking about this thing that makes me feel bad; you don’t have to keep reminding me of my screw-up. Stop rubbing it in! One way to say this in Brazil is “Não precisa ficar esfregando na minha cara”.

Here’s another situation where people might say that – let’s say your friend had the opportunity to meet a famous actor and now she wants to rub it in on her friends.