“Tomorrow is your boss’ last day isn’t it? Are you people giving her a farewell party?”
“She doesn’t want one. She wants to leave by noon tomorrow. I have to be at work early because she wants to fill me in on the details of some of the new projects.”
“Fill you in? Is she going to be giving you a lot of information about the projects?”
“Exactly! When you ‘fill someone in on something’, you give them additional or extra information about it — information which they didn’t have earlier. The dean filled us in on the decisions taken at the Academic Council meeting.”
“In other words, he kept you fully informed of the decisions taken at the meeting. I love talking to my grandmother. She always fills me in on the latest family gossip.”
“Why are you so interested in gossip? Surely, you’ve better things to do. Why...”
“I’m not interested in gossip. No matter what people say about me, I’m not the one...”
A raw nerve
“Take it easy, will you? My remark about you being a gossip seems to have touched a raw nerve. I didn’t mean to...”
“Touched a raw nerve? What are you talking about?”
“When something that you say ‘hits’ or ‘touches a raw nerve’, what you’re doing is making the other individual extremely angry or upset. You have made a comment intentionally or unintentionally about something that the person is rather sensitive about. For example, Sharoon’s remark that Laxman was a better player than Sachin hit a raw nerve with some of her friends.”
“How about this example? Something that my grandmother said during her conversation with my mother must have hit a raw nerve. I have never seen my mother so angry.”
“Good example. It was obvious from everyone’s face that the Principal’s criticism had touched a raw nerve.”
“Did you watch last night’s match? I thought we would win easily, but...”
“We should have won easily, but the fielding was terrible. Our players kept dropping simple catches. We were lucky to end up winning by a nose.”
“Winning by a nose? Does it mean to win a game by a narrow margin?”
“Very good! That is exactly what it means. When you say that someone won the race by a nose, what you are suggesting is that the person just managed to win it. It was close. The expression has the same meaning as ‘by a whisker’.”
“How about this example? The 100-metre dash was really exciting. The two runners were running neck and neck, but Anjali managed to beat Julu by a nose.”
“Sounds good. Janaki came first in her class. But only by a nose. The expression comes from the world of horse racing. The winning horse manages to get its nose in front of...”
“By sticking its nose in front, it manages to win the race. Okay, I’d better go home. I like to spend a couple of hours in the evening to talk to my grandmother.”
“One usually spends their time doing something. One does not spend their time to do something. You, for example, like to spend your evenings talking to your grandmother. If you ask me, you should spend your evenings studying for the upcoming exams.”
“My neighbour spends most of her free time watching TV. Like you, she also likes to spend her time giving advice!”
* * * * *
The best teachers are those who show you where to look, but don’t tell you what to see. — Alexandra K Trenfor
The author teaches at the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. upendrankye@gmail.com
