Preview（腕試し）

John: How was your New Year break?

Dean: It was pretty good, but there was one thing . . .

John: And what was that?

Dean: I went to a party one night. At the party, someone noticed that I was wearing one brown shoe and one black shoe. Of course, everyone looked at me and laughed. I really wanted to crawl under a rock.

Dean wanted to:

A. laugh

B. go rock collecting

C. get warm (he was feeling cold)

D. run away

　

Quick Glossary （用語辞典）

embarrassed = 当惑した

improper = 不適当な

run away/escape = 逃げる

politician = 政治家

Examples（例文）

This idiom is used when you want to escape from some embarrassing situation. Imagine yourself (the size of a bug!) trying to hide under a rock after doing something embarrassing　

His father wanted to crawl under a rock when little Tommy came into the living room during the party and announced that he often heard his father singing old Elvis Presley songs in the shower.　

Like many idioms, this one has both a short and a long version. The long version is crawl under a rock and die.

Dean was so embarrassed that he said he felt like crawling under a rock and dying.

Variation

A common variation of this expression is crawl under a rug.

Exercises （練習）Type the appropriate form of "crawl under a rock" in the box.

1. The candidate for mayor was heard using improper language in front of many reporters. He really wanted to when he noticed the microphones were on.

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2. The Prime Minister felt like when he realized that he had said "Who are you?" instead of "How are you?" to the visiting politician.

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