Today's E-cubed: rub it in
Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Daily Easy English expression. Today's expression is very good. It is to rub it in.
Now, we actually studied this expression a long time ago. We studied to rub your nose in it, or to rub your face in it. But today, I wanna focus on a short version "rub it in".
- Don't rub it in.
- Please don't rub it in.
- Do you have to rub it in?
So get that pronunciation. Rub it in. And we use the flap T.
So we use this expression, for example: don't rub it in. Don't rub my nose in it. Don't rub my face in it. And the idea is: I did something bad, I said something bad, I wrote something bad, I made a mistake, and you are reminding me of my mistake. You're taking my head and rubbing it in the mistake. Hey Shane, do you remember your mistake. You made a mistake. And you're taking my head, and you're rubbing it in the mistake. Do you understand? That's a good expression.
And once again, the idea: if you've ever had a dog, or a cat. And if the dog or the cat is inside the house and it goes to the bathroom on the floor. You don't like that. So what many people do is they take their dog's face and they show them: No, no. And they put the dog's face right into the poop or the pee, not touching but right next to it. Do you understand? This is the idea.
So to a human, don't put the face to some poop or pee. But if they made a mistake, to remind them of a bad mistake, to remind them of something negative, something sad, something terrible, ok. Hey Shane, you look really good. To bad, your hair is missing. Why did you say that? Why are you rubbing it in? Why are you teasing me? Why are you trying to make me feel bad? Why are you reminding me that I don't have any hair. Check out a dialog.
- Hi, Tommy. Did you have a Merry Christmas?
- Sure did!
- Did you spend it alone again?
- Hey~ You don’t have to rub it in.
Uh... poor Tommy. Tommy last year 2017, he was all alone during Christmas. It's a kind of sad. You know, the holiday, in America it's the family time you know. Be with your family, if you're married, your wife, your children, mom and dad, you know, aunts and uncles, you wanna be together with your family right? But last year, Tommy was alone. And this year were you alone again? So Tommy said, why do you remind me of something so terrible. Yes I was alone. Yes I'm sad. Yes I'm depressed. Why do you remind me of that sad terrible thing. Why are you rubbing it in. That's the idea.
Giải thích:
Rub it in ~ chỉ việc ai đó khơi gợi lại những việc không hay, những lỗi lầm của người khác ra khiến cho người nghe cảm thấy buồn phiền, hoặc bực dọc.
Don't rub it in ~ Đừng lôi những chuyện không hay đó ra nữa./Đừng xát muối tim tôi./Đừng đụng vào nỗi đau của tôi.