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Words and Their StoriesLearning Expressions with VOA
Learn useful expressions for social connection, annoyance, and everyday situations.
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Source: VOA Learning English · Words and Their Stories
View original article & transcriptThis episode explores how “rub” appears in expressions for socializing, irritation, money problems, and making a bad situation worse.
Cultural note: “Rub elbows with someone” often evokes mingling at a reception or networking event. It can suggest social proximity to notable or influential people, not a close friendship.
Keep exploringOne small word can help you make connections—or rub someone the wrong way. Explore the cards to see how context changes its meaning.
Phrase guide · 10 expressions
Original explanations and examples, created for learners. Save a card for later or hear the phrase spoken by your browser.
Meet and mingle with people.
Meaning
Spend time around or mingle with someone, often at an event.
Tone & use
Informal. It can suggest meeting notable or influential people; it usually means social proximity, not close friendship.
Example
“At the film festival, local students rubbed elbows with directors and actors.”
Expressions that can sting or make tension worse.
Meaning
Keep reminding someone about an unpleasant mistake, loss, or failure.
Tone & use
Informal and usually critical. Often said as “Stop rubbing it in” when someone keeps teasing you about a sore point.
Example
“I know I missed the deadline—please don’t rub it in.”
Meaning
Emphasize someone’s mistake or failure in a way that embarrasses them.
Tone & use
Informal and harsh. It focuses on making the other person face an unpleasant fact.
Example
“He made one small error, and his colleague kept rubbing his nose in it.”
Meaning
Annoy someone or create a negative impression, sometimes without intending to.
Tone & use
Informal. Often describes a person’s manner, attitude, or behavior rather than one deliberate insult.
Example
“Her habit of interrupting people rubbed the new team members the wrong way.”
Meaning
Make an already painful or disappointing situation feel even worse.
Tone & use
Informal and strongly negative. Use it when an extra comment or action adds to someone’s distress.
Example
“Losing the final was bad enough; the mocking headlines rubbed salt in the wound.”
Other useful meanings built around “rub.”
Meaning
A blend of dry seasonings applied to food before cooking.
Tone & use
A literal cooking term, not an idiom. Common in recipes and conversations about grilling or seasoning.
Example
“We coated the vegetables with a smoky dry rub before grilling them.”
Meaning
What is the problem, difficulty, or catch?
Tone & use
Very informal. Use it with people you know; it can sound old-fashioned or playful.
Example
“The apartment looks perfect. What’s the rub—why is the rent so low?”
Meaning
Be unable to think clearly—or, as an insult, be very unintelligent.
Tone & use
Very informal and insulting when said about another person. It can also be self-deprecating; avoid it in respectful or professional conversation.
Example
“After staying up all night, I don’t have two brain cells to rub together.”
Meaning
Have almost no money.
Tone & use
Informal and often humorous or self-deprecating. It describes being broke, not literal coin-counting.
Example
“When I moved to the city, I didn’t have two dimes to rub together.”
Understand this risky slang in context; it is not for casual use.
Recognition caution
Meaning
In violent slang, kill someone.
Tone & use
Recognition caution: very informal criminal slang, often associated with crime stories or fiction. Do not use casually or as a recommended expression.
Example
“In the crime novel, the gang threatens to rub out a witness.”
For recognition only. Not a recommended expression.
Knowledge check
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