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Reader question:
"In this quote - 'The man took a position today to show me up on national television. Everyone could see that' - what does 'show me up' mean? Where do we learn phrases such like this?"

My comments:
In that quote (source unknown), "show me up" means "embarrass me."

To show someone up is a colloquialism meaning to humiliate them by making them look bad or foolish.

The tabloid newspaper is a great source for picking up such phrases. Count the Daily Mirror and the Sun (both from UK) in - they are not only good for gossip (whether there's anything good about gossip is another matter), but a good source for the English learner to refine their language. Yes, I do hold these tabloids in high regard - it's up to you to overlook the gossip.

Anyway, here's a Daily Mirror example on Paul Gascoigne alledgedly showing his girlfriend up.

If you knew all the background to a story, all the names in it and so forth, you'd have an easier time reading through the text. Otherwise, reading the news can be a hard time for the uninitiated.

Gascoigne, by the way, was one of the best soccer players of his generation in England back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Nicknamed Gazza, Gascoigne was English Young Player of the Year in 1988 and BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1990. Suffice it to say, in his hey day, Gazza was better known than Gaza Strip, the Arab territory occupied by Israel, a constant flare point in the Arab-Israeli dispute in those days.

Here's the news (or rather gossip):

Dumped: Gazza's tears

PAUL Gascoigne has been dumped by his girlfriend because of his bad boy antics.

Adele Sica, 27, who hosts a music show on cable TV and the troubled ex-England hero, 39, met last September. Gazza called her his "rock".

But now Adele's admitted: "Me and Paul aren't together anymore, it just didn't work out, it's one of those things." But sources claim it was his behavior that drew a wedge between the pair. One revealed: "At first it seemed like Gazza was a changed man. He really doted on Adele. But Gazza started getting in trouble again and after he got arrested Adele was upset. She was crying and I think she realized she couldn't be with someone like that."

Adele, who also presents Sit-Up TV on Sky, was worried Gazza - who has a long-running battle with booze - would be a bad influence on her TV career.

The source added: "Gazza's bad boy antics were showing her up."

In November Gazza was arrested after allegedly punching a photographer after a drunken night out.

(Source: www.mirror.co.uk, January 3, 2007)

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.