“Is something wrong? You don’t look your usual cheerful self.”

“It’s difficult to be cheerful when you get stick from your boss. It’s not…”

“That sounds strange. What kind of a stick did your boss give you?”

“I didn’t say he gave me a stick. I said that he gave me stick. When you say that someone gave you stick, what you mean is that the person criticised you for something you’ve done.”

“In other words, they give you a dressing down.”

“Not necessarily. They make their displeasure known. The expression is mostly used in British English in informal contexts. Rahul got stick from the teacher for failing to submit his assignment.”

“How about the following example? Janani got stick from her boss for being late.”

“Sounds good. It’s also possible to say, ‘to take stick’. I took a lot of stick from my friends when I was in school.”

“How can you call them friends when they gave you stick? They sound…”

“Let’s just say that when I was young, I was very clumsy. There was a time when I…”

“Not interested in your school days. Tell me, why did your boss give you stick?”

“Quite forgetting that his son was in the marketing department, I had some nasty things to say about the department. I probably hit a raw nerve in him.”

“Do you mean to say that you actually hit your boss on a nerve?”

“No, no! That’s not what I mean. When you hit/strike/touch someone’s raw nerve, you say something which upsets the individual terribly.”

“By saying something that you shouldn’t have?”

“Exactly! But you do this unintentionally. You don’t plan to make the individual angry. It just happens. You may bring up a topic that the listener is very sensitive about, and he gets very upset. Here’s an example. Seema touched a raw nerve when she began talking about my weight.”

“Something the reporter said struck a raw nerve in the Minister. He became extremely angry.”

“Good example. Many people sometimes drop the word ‘raw’ in the expression. What you said this morning at the meeting hit a nerve in quite a few people in the audience.”

“Something I said to Seema this morning struck a nerve. She got up and left.”

“I like Seema. She’s someone you can depend on. She’s someone who goes the extra mile for the sake of her friends.”

“Go the extra mile? Does it mean someone who tries hard?”

“You could say that. When you put in a special effort to achieve something, you are said to go the extra mile.”

“In other words, you are doing more than what is expected of you.”

“Very good. The Manager at the bank went the extra mile to help us solve the problem.”

“That was nice of her. The two Presidents are willing to go the extra mile to put an end to the ongoing war.”

“And when they fail to achieve it, all the media pundits will give them stick.”

“Don’t be so negative.”

“Always go the extra mile. If you can’t run it, walk it.”

-Bobby Compton

upendrankye@gmail.com