Question

Rub the Wrong Way to annoy and irritate someone; to handle someone insensitively

Accepted Answer

It certainly rubbed Mary Jane the wrong way when Mike asked her if she got her hair cut in a pet shop. Since the mid-1800s people have been using this idiom to express the act of really irritating someone with something you said or did. This phrase may have originated from cleaning or preparing wood and making the mistake of going against its grain. Rubbing it the wrong way would make it rough and streaked. A related idiom is "against the grain" (see page 78).

Idiom	Rub the Wrong Way
Example	It certainly rubbed Mary Jane the wrong way when Mike asked her if she got her hair cut in a pet shop.
Meaning	to annoy and irritate someone; to handle someone insensitively
Origin	Since the mid-1800s people have been using this idiom to express the act of really irritating someone with something you said or did. This phrase may have originated from cleaning or preparing wood and making the mistake of going against its grain. Rubbing it the wrong way would make it rough and streaked. A related idiom is "against the grain" (see page 78).

Wrong Idiom Rub Rubbed Mary Jane Mike Asked