Rub The Wrong Way

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We all like to try to get on with most people that we meet, but sometimes something happens and - for whatever reason - you and someone else end up rubbing each other up the wrong way.

So what is the origin of this phrase, then, to rub up the wrong way?

Well it comes from the days of opulence when the well to do had lovely floors that were cleaned and scrubbed all the time by their servants to keep them spotless for the lady of the house.

Now somethines if they went against the grain of the wood then this would lead to streaks on the floor, which for any self respecting well-to-do lady of the house was something really rather frightful, and hence it would be the case that they were rubbed the wrong way.

And therefore the phrase got adapted in general for anything that led to someone else being frustrated or annoyed and not getting on smoothly.

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