The English We Speak: Grind someone's gears

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• 00:00

  Hello and welcome to The English We Speak,

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  where we explain phrases used by fluent English speakers so that you can use them too.

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  I'm Feifei and I'm joined by Georgie.

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  How are you doing?

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  Well, I'm feeling calm now, but this morning all the trains to work were cancelled,

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  so I had to get the bus instead.

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  It really grinds my gears when that happens without warning or explanation.

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  Oh, tell me about it.

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  Well, grind someone's gears is the expression we're looking at in this programme.

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  Train cancellations without warning.

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  Grind your gears, Georgie.

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  So what does that mean?

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  Well, if something grinds your gears, it really annoys you.

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  What grinds your gears, Feifei?

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  When people eat really crunchy things sitting next to me in the office, that really grinds my gears.

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  Yeah, I can understand that one.

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  Now,

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  this phrase is usually used in the present simple to talk about things which generally annoy you.

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  So you can start a sentence with it grinds my gears when,

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  or you could say that really grinds my gears.

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