Pet Peeve: Idioms of Annoyance
| This is the first entry in the series on pet peeves. We’ll be talking about things we don’t like all week!
This entry is available as a Adobe Acrobat file for printing or use in a class. This entry includes a listening exercises. You can dowload the MP3 or play it using the button below. (MP3) |
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I like to tell my students—half as a joke—that Americans are wonderful, friendly people. But, even these wonderful, friendly Americans can be annoyed or have pet peeves. In fact, it happens so often that we have a lot of idioms that we can use to talk about it.
Today, we’re going to talk about four idioms that we use to describe things—and people—that bug us.
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Get on my nerves
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Rub me the wrong way
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Get fed up / Be fed up
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Push someone’s buttons
After You’ve Heard the Recording
How will you use these idioms? Do they describe you? I think that the one I heard the most describing me was ‘to push someone’s buttons,’ when I was a kid. My mother often told me that I ‘pushed my sister’s buttons, just to get her angry.’
I think a better question might be this: do you ever get fed up with English? I hope not!
