the rough side of one's tongue

== English == === Noun === the rough side of one's tongue (uncountable) Angry words, harsh criticism. Synonyms: piece of one's mind, rebuke, reprimand, telling off, tongue-lashing 1876, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Charles of Orleans,” Chapter 4, in Familiar Studies of Men and Books, 1882,[2] […] Louis was then in no humour to hear Charles’s texts and Latin sentiments; he had his back to the wall, the future of France was at stake; and if all the old men in the world had crossed his path, they would have had the rough side of his tongue like Charles of Orleans. ==== Usage notes ==== A variant of this expression is a lick with the rough side of one's tongue. 1857, George Eliot, Scenes of Clerical Life, “Mr. Gilfil’s Love Story,” Chapter 1,[6] […] he contributed an additional zest to the conviviality on that occasion by informing the company that ‘the parson had given the squire a lick with the rough side of his tongue.’