单词本：chew out

Hellriegel (Organizational Behavior 2005) 介绍可口可乐公司瓶装部经理 Rudy Gragnani 谦逊方面的个人魅力时，举了个例子。

A customer, an expressive New Yorker, and I were loudly discussing a problem when Rudy walked by. Later, he chewed me out for yelling at my customer. But at the next management meeting, the New Yorker thanked me. Rudy understood that what he saw as an argument was just New York style. He apologized to me for misreading the situation.

这里用的短语chew out看起来好像是咬出来，实际意思是职责某人。因为这个案例是说某个员工跟纽约客户对话的时候嗓门很大。被他领导揪出来训了一通，后来发现原来纽约人就是这样大声说话看起来很没礼貌的样子。所以这个领导 Rudy Gragnani 后来得知后，找了这个员工道歉了。

再比如：If you don’t finish your project on time, the boss will chew you out.

据说这个词是从美军出来的。二战时候美军领导严厉训斥下属的时候，样子好像用言语啃咬下属。所以由此得来严厉训斥这个意思。

References