Jiaying This is The English We Speak with me, Jiaying…
Neil …and me, Neil. We’ve got that posh office party to go to tonight – it’s a black-tie event.
Jiaying Oh yes – a black-tie event means we have to dress smartly. So it’s suits for the men and dresses for us, women.
Neil Yep, but I wonder which of us will look the smartest?
Jiaying Hmm, I’m sure Roy looks very smart in a suit.
Neil Maybe… but what about me? Don’t you think I would scrub up well?
Jiaying You mean to look very smart after making a lot of effort? I’m not sure but it’s a good expression. When you ‘scrub up well’, it means you have made a lot of effort to look very smart or well presented. Neil, do you own any smart clothes?
Neil Of course I do – and so do the people in these examples…
Examples He wears jeans most of the time, but he scrubbed up well for the party.
Sharon scrubs up well – did you see what she was wearing last night?
That’s an impressive suit - you can scrub up well when you want to!
Jiaying This is The English We Speak from BBC Learning English. We’re talking about the expression ‘to scrub up well’. it’s an informal way of saying ’to look very smart after making a lot of effort’. Hey, Neil – you’ve changed, haven’t you?
Neil How do I look?
Jiaying Not bad.
Neil But not ‘scrubbed up’.
Jiaying Well, if you could polish your shoes, brush your hair and…
Neil …you mean make more effort?
Jiaying ‘To scrub up well’ involves putting in lots of effort… like Roy does.
Neil I get the message. See you for the party later.
Jiaying Bye, Neil!
Neil Bye.