To rub the face in the dirt
"The White House has been making frantic private efforts to reduce the fallout from Saudi Arabia’s disastrous mishandling of the Khashoggi case, urging Erdogan not to rub the crown prince’s face in the dirt."
(The Guardian.)
Outside the metaphor itself, I understand 'to rub the face in the dirt' by first putting the face into the dirt and next rubbing it, rather than simply rubbing the face with the dirt.
Have I got it right?
Top answer
Ys. ) Clive
- Ys.
- ) Clive
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Ys.
(I think you understand that the phrase here means to humiliate the person.)
Clive
0"To rub his face in the dirt" literally means to knock someone down so that he is prone on the ground - and helpless - and then to grab his hair and to use your grip on his hair to rub his face in the dirt. This is really mishandling a person badly.
Thus the metaphor that comes from this means to viciously attack a person who can't defend himself.
0
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