MOTIVATION

살다보면 우리를 기분 나쁘게 하는.. 스트레스받게 하는 무언가들이 일어날 때가 많습니다.예를들어 언제 마지막으로 ‘아놔 … 하면서 짜증을 냈는지 생각해보세요. 그리고 그것을 ‘명사화’ 해보세요. 예를들면,

  • 부당한 대우
  • 그동안 방치해둔 사랑니
  • 전염병
  • 부조리
  • 보스의 이해 안가는 행동
  • 어렸을 적 트라우마
  • 다수의 횡포
  • 파벌
  • 베드버그
  • 삼각관계(위 사진 참조)

등이 있겠습니다. 이런 안좋은 현상이 일어나기 시작할 때 어떻게 표현할까요 ? bad things start to happen 또는 bad phenomenon gradually appears 등으로 표현해도 좋지만 좀 더 세련된 표현이 있습니다.

Bed bugs have reared its ugly head again

DEFINITION

  • [for something unpleasant] to appear or become obvious after lying hidden. (freedictionary)

det-commentCOMMENT

보통 이 표현은 ‘<noun> rear its ugly head’ 형태로 쓰이고

보통 <noun>에 들어가는 명사는 기분을 안좋게하는(이게 포인트입니다) 무언가 입니다.

  • Meaningless coincidence might have reared its ugly head after all.
  • Olympic doping rears its ugly head again in Athens.
  • racism had reared its ugly head again .
  • Cyber-Bullying has reared its ugly head
  • Jealousy reared its ugly head and destroyed their marriage.
  • is inflation rearing its ugly head?

이 표현이 재미있는 이유는 시각적이기 때문인데요, 기분 안좋은게 마치 못생긴 두더지처럼 서서히 머리를 내민다고 생각해보세요. 생각만해도 짜.증.나지 않나요?

저는 또 이렇게도 생각합니다. 예전에 영화 링 기억하시나요? 우물에서 여인이 머리부터 나오는 장면말입니다(싫어하시는 분도 계실까봐 사진은 첨부하지 않았습니다). 되게 기분 더럽고 무섭게 등장하죠? 그런 악몽같이 안 좋은게 서서히 나타난다고 생각해보세요. 정말 끔찍하겠죠?

FROM MOVIES

  • He helped me. …as this is not just the macabre conjectures of a psychic, but a foregone conclusion just waiting to rear its ugly head. Even though police would … (Saw VI )
  • Scarcely the moment for crime to rear its ugly head. Press on, merry marksmen. We’ve much to do ere night descends. Hyah! I’ve run it up the flagpole back at … (Batman)
  • human reality will eventually rear its ugly head. Far more horrific than any film can attempt to portray. I can see her. She sleeps so calmly. Her bloated midsection slowly rising … (Subconscious Cruelty|)

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FROM NEWS

  • Apr 26, 2017 - … over “Net Neutrality” is set to rear its ugly head again soon and why Congress needs to create a federal law lining up the principles regulating … (Bloomberg Markets: Downes on Return of Net Neutrality Fight)
  • Jan 14, 2011 - Related to “like me” bias, stereotyping can rear its ugly head in the context of appraisals. It can qualify as a form of unlawful discrimination. (The Dirty Dozen Performance Appraisal Errors - Bloomberg)
  • Feb 8, 2017 - It’s very difficult to predict when volatility will rear its ugly head, but it will happen at some point in the future. Investors need to understand that … (The Becalming of Stock Volatility - Bloomberg)
  • I think we’re seeing an old problem rear its ugly head. Previous incarnations have looked like this: Spending is out of control, it should be cut … but not for … (Comments on How moderate is too moderate? | The Economist)
  • Jul 14, 1985 - In these films, the notions of closeness and happiness are so artificial that actual failure need not even rear its ugly head. Alongside the … (FILM VIEW - TRACING THE LONG SHADOW CAST BY 'THE BIG ...)

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FROM TWITTER

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VIDEO

  • reared its bloody head
  • AIDS is coming back. Ebola seems to be rearing its head
  • when an old disease rears its head, like anthrax.

META & CONTEXT

  • Is it a slang? no.
  • Can I use it in a formal setting? no.

(data source: Davies, Mark. (2008-) The Corpus of Contemporary American English: 450 million words, 1990-present. Available online at http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/)

PHRASE HISTORY

image source: Google Ngram

TYPICAL MISTAKES

  1. rear its ugly head 에서 ugly 를 생략하거나 또는 더 강하게 안좋은 단어를 써도 괜찮습니다.
    • rear its head (O)
    • rear its bloody head (O)
    • rear its fucking head (O)