rod for one's back
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Audio (General Australian): (file)
Noun
- (idiomatic) The means of one's own punishment or downfall.
- 1866 Sept, Henry Kingsley, “Silcote of Silcotes”, in MacMillan's Magazine, volume 14, page 324:
- "Silcote, you are making a rod for your back in your treatment of that child. She'll live to break your heart for you."
- 1997 October 4, John Williams, “Blair Maps Out Party's Long March”, in The Mirror, UK:
- Nobody is more wary of Tony Blair's record ratings and the illusion of the Prime Minister's omnipotence than Tony Blair himself. "He thinks his approval ratings are a rod for his back," says one adviser.
- 2009 February 2, Dita De Boni, “Keeping Mum: Sparing the Rod?”, in New Zealand Herald:
- I can't get over how you parents let your children run riot over you. There must be some discipline in this surely, otherwise you will make a rod for your back when they get older.
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