nerve-wracking
Who taught: Kathy
Sad! Sad! Sad! Steelers lost yesterday. If you are not a fan of American football, it would be hard for you to understand my feeling. We were so close to win the Super Bowl. Well, life goes on. Every time there is a Super Bowl game, people are so excited not only about the game but also about commercials. My favorite this year is Bridgestone’s as I added in this post. I love it. What do you think? Don’t you like it? What is your favorite?
Watching a Super Bowl game is hard in a sense that there are so many times I get to worry, assuming that Steelers are playing. If it is a game that Steelers are not in, who cares? (No offense to the people who root for other teams. I am talking about my feeling here. 🙂 ) You know what I mean? It is actually very stressful. I had that experience yesterday. As most of people were, I was in a party hosted by Sue and Brian. It was so fun to be with great friends and to watch the game together. During the game, I had to go to the kitchen to grab some food. As I went into the kitchen, Kathy was coming into too and said to me, “It is so nerve-wracking. Don’t you think?” I knew the expression but never used it yet. “Yeah! It is hard to watch,” said I. But then, I thought about the expression and I said to me, “Nerve-wracking! That is actually a very interesting expression.”
Let’s do a very short analysis here!
1. Nerve means long thin fibres that transmit messages between your brain and other parts of your body.
2. Wrack means ruin or destruct.
Combination of nerve and wrack now means “ruin or destruct your nerves,” right? This makes me feel the expression perfectly. People say nerve-wracking is similar to anxious. But, I feel like this should be different. I mean I feel very different by saying “nerve-wracking” from saying “anxious.” Nerve-wracking feels a lot stronger to me. How about you? Am I right, my American friends?
What are the things that are nerve-wracking to you? Watching a Super Bowl game (when Steelers are playing) is definitely nerve-wracking to me.
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You don’t often hear people use the word “wrack”
I’m not a fan of football and even don’t understand its rules.
Sorry, can’t imagine your feeling or desperation by Steeler losing the game.
I know Football is the most popular game in North America but not in somewhere else, I guess.
I would recommend you to try to get into football. It is as much fun as soccer. I played football with my friends one time but would love to play more. I do not think I can throw but I can catch. 🙂
Interesting! Why not? Is it because the word has some negative connotation?
That is a cute commercial! I must have missed it during the game.
A related expression that I used recently is “racking my brain”. A friend of mine posted a chain status on her facebook that asked all her friends to comment with when and where they first met her. I have known her a very long time, so I commented, “I’m racking my brain trying to come up with a time when I didn’t know you.” So the feeling I get is that it means to think very hard, to stretch your brain to try and remember something. I agree that “nerve-wracking” is more intense than anxious, and I’d say the same about “racking my brain,” that it is stronger than just thinking.
(P.S. – “I thought about the expression and I said to me,” should be “I said to myself,”)
Good to hear from you, Patty! Haven’t seen you for a while. Thank you so much for the expression and a very useful comparison! And… good catch! Appreciate it a lot!
I think that was one of my favorite commercials too!
I liked this one too
This is my second favorite. Actually, I was totally sold by this ad and bought a pack of Doritos after the game. Not that good. Very salty. 🙂