Thread: What does mean "Rubbing salt in the wound"?

Hi nabylm:

Rubbing salt into the wound means, generally, to make someone feel worse than they already do.

Some examples might be: losing your job (the wound) and having the person you dislike most get your old job (rubbing in the salt)...or your wife/husband leaves you for your best friend.

It's sort of like another of our expressions: "A Double Whammy" or one bad thing followed by another.

Yep Daniel. That's the point of the phrase.


There is a similar phrase that probably derived from this phrase.

"To rub it in": to remind someone of a mistake or something unpleasant or unwanted that they have done in order to embarrass, humiliate, anger or just annoy them.

EX: "I know I made a mistake. You don't have to rub it in."

I believe that the phrase:
"Thanks for rubbing salt in the wound" in spanish would be like: "Gracias por poner el dedo en la llaga"
Sumando a las descripciones que dieron los experimentados miembros del foro. Puro sarcasmo.

Santiago, the same phrase exists in U.S. English: "To turn the knife".

Vicente, how would that phrase "To turn the knife" go in a conversation? Could you give an example?

Hello eidjit:

"I was falsely accused of stealing and to turn the knife (in the wound), I had to make a public apology".

This phrase is not as common as "to rub salt into the would" or "to rub it in" but the meaning is essentially the same.

Another phrase with similar meaning is "to add insult to injury".

EX: "To add insult to injury I had to apologize for something I didn't do."