What pisses you off? Part 2 - vocabulary

Posted on April 1, 2007
Filed under British vs. American English, Idioms and slang, Listening, Upper intermediate, Vocabulary |

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Informal ways to express irritation, frustration and difficulty

Noun phrases
Pain in the neck (Am E. Br.E ): /rear/ass/bum (Br.E)/butt (Am.E) : describing anything tedious, difficult, annoying or irritating. Also used to describe people who are annoying, irritating or difficult to deal with:

My boss is a real pain in the ass (neck/butt/rear); he’s constantly complaining about my work, but he won’t tell me how to improve it.

You can also omit the body part, and just call something a pain. This usage often collocates with the intensifying adjective royal.

Setting the time and date on my DVD recorder is a royal pain; the instructions are complete gibberish!

Ball ache (Br. E) is used to talk about something annoying or tedious, usually that you don’t want to do.

I love my dog, but having to walk him in all weathers is a real ball ache.

Bitch is used to talk about something very difficult to do. Often used with intensifying adjectives such as real, total.

My driving test was a real bitch, but I passed on my third try.

I spilt red wine on my shirt, and it was a real bitch to get it out.

Bitch is also used to denote something generally annoying or unpleasant:

The Swedish summers are beautiful except for the mosquitoes; they’re a real bitch!

Bitch is also used to denote women who are perceived as acting in an unpleasant manner. This usage often collocates with the intensifying adjective fucking.

My ex-wife is a fucking bitch, she tells my children terrible things about me that aren’t true.

The following saying gets its humor from playing on both senses of the noun bitch:

Life’s a bitch, then you marry one.

I.e., Life is a bitch (difficult), then you marry one (an unpleasant woman).

Verb phrases

All of the idiomatic verb phrases below are used to talk about feeling annoyed, frustrated, irritated, or even angry.

It gets on my tits (Br. E)

That awful song my neighbor plays totally gets on my tits. If I hear it one more time, I will scream!

It gets on my nerves

My office chair squeaks every time I make the slightest move; the squeaky sound is really getting on my nerves.

It pisses me off (both)

We have to get a cordless phone, because constantly tripping over the phone cord totally pisses me off.

It tees me off
This is a clean variation of to piss sb off.

It drives me crazy

The new guy at work is always picking his nose when he thinks nobody’s looking. It’s driving me crazy because it’s so disgusting.

	USAGE GUIDE
never offensive (Grandma-safe)	sometimes offensive (use with caution)	nearly always offensive (use with extreme caution)
to tee sb* off to get on sb’s nerves to drive sb crazy to be a pain in the neck to be a (royal) pain	to piss sb off to get on sb’s tits to be a pain in the rear/butt/bum/ass to be a bitch to be a ball-ache (said about things only, not people)	None of these expressions are as offensive to most people as the REALLY taboo words (e.g., fuck, cunt), but you should definitely use the “Grandma-safe” alternatives if you are unsure.

*sb= somebody; sb’s=somebody’s

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Comments

10 Responses to “What pisses you off? Part 2 - vocabulary”

Eugene on April 3rd, 2007 12:25 am

This site is amazing.”Real” language for “real” people. Thanks a lot!!!!!
Lori on April 3rd, 2007 8:47 am

Thanks, Eugene. Glad you like it!
Fabi from Germany on April 3rd, 2007 7:58 pm

Wow, when I heard there is an uncensored version of your page on your latest podcast I had to check it at once! I think it will be a great help to understand most of the American movies
btw. I really love your voice :*
Juan on April 4th, 2007 12:41 am

I think this was by far the best podcast ever! I already knew some of the American ones (thank you Hollywood), but I’m starting to find the British slang really interesting and funny.

So I’d like to hear Michael talk more about that subject.

Love the new UB@E! Keep up the good work you guys!
Lori on April 4th, 2007 8:22 am

Fabi: Thanks so much! I’m glad you are getting some use from the site.

Juan: Thanks! I agree with you about British slang. The first time I heard Michael say “It gets on my tits,” I busted a gut laughing. Michael is still a bit shy about podcasting, but comments like yours do a lot for his confidence. So I’ll encourage him to be more active — he’s got a LOT to offer!
Sophan on April 4th, 2007 9:40 pm

Hello from Paris,

Both your podcasts are very interesting and useful.
It really helps to hear real engligh conversations, and cherry on top of the cake we get the american plus the british voice and vocabulary.
Thanks so much for your work!
I’m totaly looking forward to seeing the upcoming shows!
Kristof on April 6th, 2007 10:32 pm

I second Juan! I would love to get to know what “funny” BE terms are offensive, and which aren’t. I mean, is “arse” less offensive than “ass”? Is “bloody” just as bad as “effin’” or “frigging” ? Is “shite” wors than “crap”? Is it better to kick someone in the weak parts than to tell him to “bugger off”?

You catch my drift I’m gonna be following this one closely!
Michael on April 6th, 2007 10:41 pm

Thanks very much for the comment, Kristof. We have a lot of things planned for the site - and that’s one of them!
Juanmi on April 28th, 2007 11:29 am

Hi lori! Great idea, I think that It’s going to be very useful to follow this podcast, I think that most of the people use swear words in real conversations and we don’t learn a lot about them in schools

Keep doing it, I’m just waiting the next post!
Amine on October 3rd, 2007 6:05 pm

i’ve always liked USA & American English, but 2day i gonna go mad after having found your website ! It just cantains all what i been looking 4 very long years ago !!! Really cannot believe what i read !!!! ;-D