|
Reader question:
"In this quote - 'The man took a position today to
show me up on national television. Everyone could see that' - what does
'show me up' mean? Where do we learn phrases such like this?"
My comments:
In that quote (source unknown), "show me up" means
"embarrass me."
To show someone up is a colloquialism meaning to humiliate them by
making them look bad or foolish.
The tabloid newspaper is a great source for picking up such phrases.
Count the Daily Mirror and the Sun (both from UK) in - they are not only
good for gossip (whether there's anything good about gossip is another
matter), but a good source for the English learner to refine their
language. Yes, I do hold these tabloids in high regard - it's up to you to
overlook the gossip.
Anyway, here's a Daily Mirror example on Paul Gascoigne alledgedly
showing his girlfriend up.
If you knew all the background to a story, all the names in it and so
forth, you'd have an easier time reading through the text. Otherwise,
reading the news can be a hard time for the uninitiated.
Gascoigne, by the way, was one of the best soccer players of his
generation in England back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Nicknamed
Gazza, Gascoigne was English Young Player of the Year in 1988 and BBC
Sports Personality of the Year in 1990. Suffice it to say, in his hey day,
Gazza was better known than Gaza Strip, the Arab territory occupied by
Israel, a constant flare point in the Arab-Israeli dispute in those days.
Here's the news (or rather gossip):
Dumped: Gazza's tears
PAUL Gascoigne has been dumped by his girlfriend because of his bad boy
antics.
Adele Sica, 27, who hosts a music show on cable TV and the troubled
ex-England hero, 39, met last September. Gazza called her his "rock".
But now Adele's admitted: "Me and Paul aren't together anymore, it just
didn't work out, it's one of those things." But sources claim it was his
behavior that drew a wedge between the pair. One revealed: "At first it
seemed like Gazza was a changed man. He really doted on Adele. But Gazza
started getting in trouble again and after he got arrested Adele was
upset. She was crying and I think she realized she couldn't be with
someone like that."
Adele, who also presents Sit-Up TV on Sky, was worried Gazza - who has
a long-running battle with booze - would be a bad influence on her TV
career.
The source added: "Gazza's bad boy antics were showing her up."
In November Gazza was arrested after allegedly punching a photographer
after a drunken night out.
(Source: www.mirror.co.uk, January 3, 2007)
| 
