He / She had it coming
2020.08.20
Meaning:
We use ‘he/she/you had it coming’ when someone is suffering – and we think the suffering is good / fair! For example, imagine a little boy plays with his sister’s toy. The sister says, ‘Stop’ many times, but the boy doesn’t listen. Finally the sister hits the little boy. The mother might say to the little boy, ‘Well, you had it coming. You created the problem.’ ‘He / She / You had it coming’ is a pretty cold expression. Using it directly (you had it coming) is pretty aggressive, so we usually use it to talk *about* people’s behaviour (he/she had it coming).
Example:
A: Hey! Did you hear Simon’s wife left him?!
B: Well, he had it coming. He has been seeing other women for years.
A: Did you hear Susan lost her job? So sad!
B: I don’t know. She called in sick (meaning hungover) every Monday. She had it coming, I think.
Talking Point(s):
Have you ever wanted to say, ‘You had it coming’ to someone?
大人からの英会話getgo 西船橋・荻窪・津田沼・本八幡