Look on the bright side

hot under the collar If you get hot under the collar, you feel annoyed, indignant or embarrassed.

“If anyone criticises his proposals, Joe immediately gets hot under the collar.”

keep a stiff upper lip If a person keeps a stiff upper lip, he contains his emotions and do not let other people see his feelings.

“When the bad news was announced, Anne kept a stiff upper lip.”

lick one’s wounds When a person licks their wounds, they try to recover their confidence or spirits after a defeat, failure or disappointment.

“Poor Hugo is licking his wounds after being dropped from the team.”

look on the bright side If you look on the bright side, you view a mostly unpleasant situation in a positive and optimistic way and see the favourable aspects. “OK. You know nobody. But look on the bright side - you’ll make lots of new friends!”

love me, love my dog This expression means that if someone loves you, they must love everything about you, including everyone and everything you love. “Harry didn’t like Sally’s best friend, but Sally said : ‘love me, love my dog!’”

(have a) lump in your throat If you have a lump in your throat, you have a tight feeling in your throat because of a strong emotion such as sadness or gratitude.

“The speech was so touching that I had a lump in my throat.”

makes your ears burn If something makes your ears burn, you are embarrassed by what you hear, especially if the conversation is about you.

“The comments I overheard made my ears burn.” makes your flesh crawl Something that makes your flesh crawl fills you with disgust or makes you feel very nervous.

“Just talking about snakes makes my flesh crawl!”

(have) mixed feelings When you have mixed feelings about something, you react to it with conflicting emotions; you are happy and unhappy at the same time.

“I had mixed feelings about leaving the company. I was excited about my new job but sad to be leaving my colleagues.”

no hard feelings If you have no hard feelings, you feel no resentment or bitterness about something.

“When Alan was promoted instead of Steve, he said to Steve : ‘No hard feelings I hope.”

not give a hang If you do not give a hang about something, you are totally indifferent to it and do not care at all about it.

“I’m not interested in football so I don’t give a hang about which team wins.”