🗓️ Idiom: Give Someone the Cold Shoulder (v)
💬 Meaning
- To deliberately ignore someone
- To show someone that they are not welcome or important
🧠 Example Sentences
- After I asked for a refund, the staff gave me the cold shoulder.
- The company gave long-time customers the cold shoulder by removing support.
- If you give a client the cold shoulder, they may not return.
🏛️ Origin
This idiom comes from old times in Britain, when hosts would serve cold meat—especially the shoulder part—to unwanted guests as a sign they should leave. Over time, it came to mean giving someone an unfriendly or distant response.
📝 Practice Exercises
1. Fill in the blank:
The customer felt upset because the staff ____________________.
Answer
gave her the cold shoulder
2. Choose the correct meaning of “give someone the cold shoulder”:
A) To offer someone a better deal
B) To ignore someone on purpose
C) To ask for help politely
Answer
B) To ignore someone on purpose
3. Change the sentence using “give someone the cold shoulder”:
“The support team did not respond or help the customer.”
Answer
The support team gave the customer the cold shoulder.
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