A slap in the face

Summary

Feifei is worried—Rob went for an interview and got a slap in the face. Is he OK? Luckily it's just another English expression he's using and the only thing that's hurt is his pride!

Transcript

Rob
Welcome to The English We Speak with me, Rob.

Feifei
And me Feifei. Hello! So how did your interview go?

Rob
You know, quite good… ok… well not bad.

Feifei
So did you get the promotion?

Rob
Well… no. I didn't… it was a bit of a slap in the face actually.

Feifei
A slap in the face? Did they hit you?!

Rob
No, no, no. I mean not getting the job is a bit of an insult—I was the right man for the job—look at all my qualifications and experience.

Feifei
Oh dear. You sound quite offended Rob.

Rob
That's what 'a slap in the face' means—it's an action that can be seen as an insult or cause offence. It can also cause disappointment because you were expecting a more positive outcome.

Feifei
Like getting that promotion?

Rob
Exactly. Here are some more examples…

Examples
After all the extra work we put in, it was a slap in the face not to win the contract.
Not being invited on his stag do, was a real slap in the face—I thought I was his best friend!

Feifei
So 'a slap in the face' is an insult—or an action that causes offence or disappointment. It's not actually a physical slap in the face then?

Rob
That's right.

Feifei
So what are you going to do about getting a promotion?

Rob
Well to be honest, Feifei, it wasn't much of a promotion anyway—it was quite a boring job role and no more money—an idiot could have done it—I think you would have been good at it…

[SLAP]

…ow, what was that?

Feifei
That's a real slap in the face!

Rob
Was it something I said?