Feifei Hello and welcome to The English We Speak, where we explain phrases used by fluent English speakers so that you can use them, too! I’m Feifei, and I’m joined by Georgie.
Georgie Hi Feifei! How’s your day going?
Feifei Not too bad, thank you. What about you?
Georgie Well, actually… not great. I was taking out the bins this morning and there were maggots everywhere! It was disgusting – it made my skin crawl.
Feifei Oh, Georgie! You just said the maggots ‘made your skin crawl’, and that’s the expression we’re learning in this programme, but what does it mean?
Georgie OK, well I’m sure our listeners know what skin is, but Feifei, what does crawl mean?
Feifei Well, ‘crawl’ is a verb and it’s a way of moving your body along the ground, for example, babies crawl on their hands and knees. And animals can crawl too – and it can be quite a creepy movement when they do so!
Georgie That’s right! So, we even have a nickname for bugs which is ‘creepy crawlies’. And, if something makes our skin crawl, it means you have the sensation of horrible insects crawling over your body – that doesn’t sound very nice, does it?!
Feifei No, it doesn’t… So, if something makes your skin crawl, it means you’re incredibly disgusted or frightened by it. Let’s hear some examples.
Examples I watched a film about an alien that attacked a group of people on a spaceship. The alien made my skin crawl.
My brother changes his bed sheets about three times a year. It makes my skin crawl just thinking about it.
I saw a news story about a plague of mice. There were thousands of them running through people’s houses and it just made my skin crawl to see it.
Feifei Georgie, what kind of reaction did you have when you found those maggots this morning?
Georgie … I don’t want to think about it. My whole body shuddered and shook.
Feifei Like your skin was physically crawling! So, to remember this expression, you can either think about insects crawling over your skin, or that your skin itself crawls.
Georgie OK, let’s recap. We’ve learned ‘makes my skin crawl’, which means something makes you feel disgusted or frightened.
Feifei And remember to check out our website: bbclearningenglish.com for more resources to help you improve your English. Thanks for joining us. Bye!
Georgie Bye!