Miffed

Feifei
Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. I’m Feifei.

Rob
And I’m Rob.

Feifei
So, Rob, you don’t look so happy.

Rob
I’m… ok.

Feifei
I thought you were off to a rock concert for your birthday this weekend.

Rob
Yeah, I was. I love rock music.

Feifei
Oh. What happened?

Rob
Well, I booked my ticket a month ago. It wasn’t cheap. Three of my friends said they were coming too. But they just told me they forgot to book the tickets, and now there are none left.

Feifei
What a pain. I’m sorry.

Rob
Yeah, I’m a bit ‘miffed’.

Feifei
I’m not surprised. Err, Rob, sorry to mention this while you’re feeling upset…

Rob
Yes…?

Feifei
Do you mind if I use ‘miffed’ as our word today?

Rob
Yeah, OK then.

Feifei
OK, so as you might have worked out, to feel ‘miffed’ is to feel frustrated or annoyed, usually because of the behaviour of other people. It’s what Rob is feeling right now, because his friends didn’t book tickets to a concert with him. Let’s just give him a minute, while we listen to these examples.

Examples
You know what? I’ve been working really late all week to finish this proposal, but my boss hasn’t said a word of thanks. Yeah, you could say I’m pretty miffed.

Laura met this guy on holiday. She told me he was really special, and that they seemed serious about each other. But he hasn’t called in weeks. She’s really miffed about it.

You’d think that when you order a vegetarian pizza, it would come without meat. No wonder Martin was miffed when it arrived with ham on it.

Feifei
This is The English We Speak from BBC Learning English. So, feeling any better yet, Rob?

Rob
Well, I just got a message. Get this - apparently my friends were joking.

Feifei
Err, I knew.

Rob
What?

Feifei
Well, I told them to say that, so we had the opportunity to talk about ‘miffed’.

Rob
Seriously?

Feifei
Yeah, you don’t mind, do you?

Rob
Of course I mind. You made me feel, well… miffed!

Feifei
Sorry about that.

Rob
And I’m miffed with you now!

Feifei
Rob, you know what?

Rob
What?

Feifei
I got a ticket too. It is your birthday after all - I wouldn’t miss it!

Rob
Really? OK, all is forgiven!

Both
Bye.