Cartoon: Just Beat It!

Cartoon by Gary Brookins of The Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia and published on 16 July 2009.

1. to give someone the creeps - (idiomatic expression) This means to make someone feel nervous or frightened. It implies that the sensation of fear feels like something is crawling on your skin.

This old house gives me the creeps! They say it is haunted. 

- a creep – an unpleasant or repulsive person.  I though he was a nasty, little creep!

- creepy – said of something that is scary, unpleasant and repulsive. There was a creepy silence as the soldiers waited for the expected attack.

- a creepy-crawly – This is what we call insects when we imply that we don’t like them or are afraid of them. 

2. ‘beat it!’ – This is an informal and not a very nice way of telling someone to leave and go away.