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"Take someone down a peg" nghĩa là gì?
24 Oct, 2014
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| 'There must be some kind of way out of here'. Photo courtesy Alias 0591. |
'Take someone down a peg (notch)' có từ peg là cái chốt hay cái cọc. Thành ngữ này xuất xứ từ thế kỷ thứ 17 và được dùng cho những chiếc tàu trong hải quân Anh. Trên mỗi cột cờ trên tàu có nhiều cái chốt dùng để nâng cờ lên hay hạ xuống. Khi gặp một chiếc tàu quan trọng thì chiếc tàu nào kém quan trọng hơn phải hạ cờ xuống một bực. Vì thế, 'take someone down a peg' có nghĩa là giảm bớt tầm quan trọng của một người.
Ví dụ
Mike used to think he was the greatest high school basketball player in the state (tiểu bang). Then he found out that a teammate (bạn đồng đội) won a full scholarship (học bổng toàn phần) to play for a top university. That really took him down a peg (bớt kiêu ngạo). He’s a lot more humble (khiêm nhường) these days!
My neighbor is always boasting (khoe khoang) about how she has one of the most beautiful flower gardens in the country. Many magazines have been begging (nài nỉ) her for photos, she says. She’s so arrogant I often wish someone would take her down a notch.
Harris was reportedly given a job tending to the prison garden, infuriating (làm tức điên lên) other inmates (bạn tù) who felt he was receiving preferential treatment. “[Other prisoners] were keen to take him down a peg or two,” “He was moved to another prison for his own safety about two weeks ago.”
It is a bold move for a man who has just lost his job to publicly complain about being hard done by. It is especially brave to do a question-and-answer session with Reddit's now famous 'Ask Me Anything' community after the very same website fired you. For a former Reddit employee using the nickname 'Dehrmann', we're thinking he didn't expect the sites CEO to turn up and take him down a peg.
Huyền Trang
VOA
Bài trước: "There is no love lost" nghĩa là gì?
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