Some confusing expressions

A.

Wear

• She was wearing a beautiful diamond necklace with matching earrings.

You can also wear your hair in a particular way:

• David Beckham used to wear his hair short, but now he is wearing it long.

There is another meaning to wear. If something wears, it becomes thinner or weaker because it is used frequently over a long period of time. We also have the expression to wear thin and the phrasal verb to wear out. People can also feel worn out. If something wears you out, it makes you feel extremely tired. Compare the following usages:

• This carpet is beginning to wear. We shall soon have to replace it.

• He is such an annoying person. My patience is wearing thin.

• If you didn’t play football every day, your shoes wouldn’t wear out so quickly

• Don’t rush around so much. You’ll wear yourself out.

• I’ve spent all day shopping and I feel quite worn out.

B.

Dress

When you dress, you put clothes on. You can also dress children, dress a wound by cleaning it and covering it and dress a salad by putting oil and vinegar on it. If you dress up, you put on different clothes o make yourself look smarter, (if you dress down, you pt on clothes that are just informal than usual.) We often speak of getting dressed as a colloquial alternative to dress. Compare the following usages:

• You’d better get dressed now. Henry will be here in ten minutes.
• She came in covered in mud. So I bathed her and dressed her in new clothes.

• I must dress now for the party. Have you dressed the salad yet?

• I think its better not to dress that wound. We’ll just leave it so that the air can get to it.

• It is customary now to dress down in certain offices in the city on Fridays. There is no need to wear a suit.

• I just love dressing up and Edward’s having an Edwardian party on Saturday.

C.

Horrible, horrific, terrible – terrifying – terrific

You can describe something as horrible (or deadfull or awful) when you do not like it at all:

The hotel was horrible – just awful. The walls were all painted a horrible colour and I’ve never had such dreadful meals.

You would describe something as horrific when it is really upsetting or frightening to think about it or speak about it:

It was a horrific motorway accident: twelve people died.

Terrible – terrific

In a similar way, terrible and terrifying, which have similar shades of meaning to horrible and horrifying, are both derived from the noun terror from which we get the nouns terrorist and terrorism:

Ridding the world of terrorists and terrorism is easier said than done.

Compare the following:

• The food was terrible. Nobody at the camp had any idea about how to cook.

• Everybody in the team was terrific. I had never seen them play so well together before.

D.

Can you guess the meaning of some of these expressions?

• I’d love to be on the stage. I’ve always wanted to be in showbiz.
• I can guarantee that at least eight of these numbers will be show stoppers.
• Don’t worry. She’ll organize everything while you’re away. She’s quite capable of running the show.
• Glynis Johns as Desiree in the original production of Night Music stole the show.

On the stage – working as an actor or actress in the theatre

Showbiz – show business

Number – a song or musical and dance scene

Show stopper – a song or number that provokes such a strong reaction from the audience (it stops the show) that they are in raptures

To run the show – to take charge of any even or activity, not necessarily connected with entertainment or showbiz.

To steal the show – to win the greatest applause and to be better than all the other performers.