Rob Welcome to The English We Speak with me, Rob.
Feifei And me Feifei. Hello! So how did you interview go?
Rob You know, quite good… ok… well not bad.
Feifei So did you get the promotion?
Rob Well… no. I didn’t… it was a bit of a slap in the face actually.
Feifei A slap in the face? Did they hit you?!
Rob No, no, no. I mean not getting the job is a bit of an insult – I was the right man for the job – look at all my qualifications and experience.
Feifei Oh dear. You sound quite offended Rob.
Rob That’s what ‘a slap in the face’ means – it’s an action that can be seen as an insult or cause offence. It can also cause disappointment because you were expecting a more positive outcome.
Feifei Like getting that promotion?
Rob Exactly. Here are some more examples…
Examples After all the extra work we put in, it was a slap in the face not to win the contract.
Not being invited on his stag do, was a real slap in the face – I thought I was his best friend!
Feifei So ‘a slap in the face’ is an insult – or an action that causes offence or disappointment. It’s not actually a physical slap in the face then?
Rob That’s right.
Feifei So what are you going to do about getting a promotion?
Rob Well to be honest, Feifei, it wasn’t much of a promotion anyway – it was quite a boring job role and no more money – an idiot could have done it – I think you would have been good at it…
[SLAP]
…ow, what was that?
Feifei That’s a real slap in the face!
Rob Was it something I said?