The English We Speak: Make a rod for your own back
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Hello and welcome to The English We Speak, where we explain phrases used by fluent English speakers so that you can use them too. I'm Feifei and I'm here with Phil. You look a bit stressed, Phil. I am a bit stressed. I keep volunteering to do extra work and now I've got so much to do and I don't know when I'm going to get it done. Maybe you shouldn't have volunteered for so much work –

It looks like you made a rod for your own back. And now you've given me an expression to look at in this programme. Make a rod for your own back. We use it to say that you do something that will cause you problems in future, like volunteering for too much work.

In this expression, the rod is the thing that will cause you problems. It's you that will feel the negative consequences of your decisions. If someone invites too many people to a party at their house, they might be making a rod for their own back. They'll need to buy or make food for lots of people. Let's hear some more examples of people using make a rod for your own back. Music

I offered to make a cup of tea at work the other day and now I've really made a rod for my own back. I have to make the morning tea every day. I missed a couple of my Spanish lessons and I've really made a rod for my own back because now I'm going to have to study extra hard for the test. I offered to referee a kids' football match and now all the parents expect me to do it every week. I've really made a rod for my own back.

Sometimes you might not realise you've made a rod for your own back when you choose to do something. Yes, often when we decide to do something, we don't realise that it could cause problems in the future and that we're actually making a rod for our own backs. Luckily, there's no way that listening to our programmes could be making a rod for your own back. So, make sure that you come back next time for more expressions. See you then. Bye.