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How can I say that a girl rejected a guy who was trying to pick her up (and he was possibly rude to her)? For example:

Mike was trying to pick her up at the party yesterday but she just ______ him.

Something like to send someone as far as he can get to :)

I think reject works, but I am looking for something more informal, basically any expressions used in spoken English. What word or phrase can I use? (There should be more than just one expression for this.)

Thank you so much for your help.

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    @ArmanMcHitarian blanked (UK - not sure about how common this is in US / other English speaking countries) - means ignored
    – martin
    Sep 9, 2015 at 5:28
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    Mike was trying to pick her up at the party yesterday but she rejected his advances. Sep 9, 2015 at 5:54

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.^_^. I don't know where you are from but I'm a fluent English speaker, a native American-English speaker. I'd love to help. The answers you received are wrong because they do not address the fact that the male trying to pick up the girl was rude to her.

To "Snub" someone is to disregard, "turn your nose up at", them as if you are too good for them based on a superficial indication of status.

Ex: Celebrity VS Fan, Popular Girl VS LonerNerd, Rich Guy VS Poor girl, etc. So to say that she "snubbed him" would be a negative on her character. He was rude so he would have deserved the rejection, that means no snubbing on the girl's part. Especially when dealing with strangers. If we are dealing with people who are familiar with each other then snubbing would indicate a private quarrel that caused the two not to be speaking in public, when rightfully they should. Like a talented well known actress/musician getting snubbed at award shows due to internal conflicts behind the scenes.

To "blow him off" or "tune him out" both amount to ignoring his advance on her but neither are critical. You said you want something that indicates "to send someone as far as he can get to :)"

A pure slang for that kind of rejection is "to curve"

Example #1 Guy: Hey toots! What will it take for ya to dance with big daddy?! Lady: A Cold day in hell. walks away Friends: Ohhhh! She curved the heck out of him!

In order for her response to be considered a curve it's not about the insult itself but the delivery. A SWIFT, Direct, and FINAL response. Her tone of voice and facial expression is what cements the injury to his ego. Walking away leaves no chance for him to follow up, but even if she didn't walk away and just looked him in the eye, or looked past him pretending not to see him, it would be an ego bruising curve. He will look and feel like a fool, or at the very least know that he better find a new target. We also call this "shutting it down". The word "it" in this case alludes to the entire situation, but to be more direct you can use him/her instead.

Ex: Mike was trying to pick her up at the party yesterday but she just shut him down.

Ex: Mike was trying to pick her up at the party yesterday but she just curved him.

**Note: What makes the guy rude and worthy to be curved in this situation is him calling her "toots". It's demeaning. Coupled with him calling himself big daddy showing his inflated ego and undermining her presence.

Curving someone or shutting them down can also be more subtle or even comical. It simply means not to entertain their antics AT ALL. Among young people/teens even if you are interested in a person a lady will have to curve the guy she likes from time to time to stop situations from getting out of hand ;)

You can read a few examples from Urban Dictionary.

I'll post this example of curving through texts.

To ignore, avoid or sidestep someone's obvious expression of interest through flirting or any means of advance.

Person 1: "Hey baby I miss you"

Person 2: "Goodnight bruh"

hashtag: just got curved

curve

What would make that a curve is the fact Person 1 and Person 2 are not in a relationship so Person 1 is sweet talking by calling Person 2 baby. If person 2 is female her saying "bruh" is a comedic indicative that her response is deliberate and calling for him to "chill out" meaning stop. She's avoiding sweet talk because it usually leads to other things/feelings. If he does "chill" they will just move on to a different topic. So she would have curved his attempt to get mushy. If he continued by saying "No really I can't get your pretty face out of my mind" to cement her curve she will likely not respond after saying "Goodnight bruh" and they'll address it in person later. But his attempt to get mushy would have still been shut down be her direct and abrupt response that did not reciprocate his feelings.

SORRY TO BE LONG WINDED buuuut, I do not know your language background or English level so I'm hoping to be thorough enough for ANYONE to understand if this topic is completely new to them :-D

So Lastly, the other perspective. If you take the texting scenario and make it between persons where ONLY ONE (1) was interested, then Person 2's curve would have been a total shut down.

Besides Urban Dictionary my source is MYSELF, a young lady in America that frequently shuts down fools that don't know the right way to approach women <3 .^_^.

PS- Spurn and Rebuff aren't quite informal. The average group of youth don't get together and talk about how "Tiffany rebuffed David in front of everyone" or how "Amy had to spurn the old guy trying to holler at her at the grocery store."

Cock-block is a #DEAD WRONG term in this situation. Cock-blocking requires a 3rd party. Cock-blocking is stopping two people who want each other from sexual activity.

EX: Every time Monica and Eric are alone in the basement Amy starts watching Disney Movies as an excuse to go down there and dig through boxes.

EX #2: When Damien sleeps over Bianca's her brother pretends to be afraid of the dark so he can stay in her room. That way no one gets frisky.

You can't cock-block yourself and a woman isn't cock-blocking when she rejects weird guys. Cock-blocking is a vulgar term that will raise eyebrows if you say it to an adult or generally decent person.

By the name it does not simply mean "alone time" it's explicit to sex. Keeping that in mind it can be offensive to the female if you tell her "Amy is always cock-blocking don't bring her next time" because she may have wanted to be alone with you without having ANY intentions of having sex with you. Saying cock-block to a girlfriend or potential girlfriend could make her misunderstand your intentions. So save that term for hanging with the guys, lol.

I hope I helped! Next time you head out be prepared to shut down and curve folks that don't come correct! ;-)

P.P.S - The Cold shoulder is also inaccurate because it simply means to ignore by quite literally turning your shoulder or back to the person trying to speak to you. A cold shoulder doesn't always "send someone as far as they can get to" and is usually personal. Some women DO give the cold shoulder to complete strangers, but it is rare, which is why such women are dubbed "Ice Queens"

P.P.P.s - Have no worries, saying that you curved a guy/girl doesn't have any stigmas attached to it. People won't question if you were raised in a bad area or anything like that, they always won't think you are being uppity, it is a perfectly accurate term across social and financial groups.


Oh and to explain why the terms "shutting it down" and "curved" are used

The term shutting it down: When a man is trying to pick you/a female up disrespectfully it is seen that he is "wound up" or "turned up" so we "SHUT IT/HIM DOWN" before he can take things any further. You bring his ego, attitude, erection, etc. down to Earth.

The term curve: It's seen that a person is throwing a flirt/advance like a baseball straight for you but you're decline is the CURVE-ball they didn't see coming. You took them off their beeline course. :)

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  • +1 for "shut him down." This was the phrase which popped into my head when reading the question. Doesn't necessarily make it clear that he was being rude but does imply that he was out of line, which is very closely related.
    – Arkaaito
    Sep 9, 2015 at 13:52
  • Well, NellaLaBella, I think I got every single pixel you put into your answer! No worries, 'long' wouldn't be the right word to describe it. It's very detailed and will no doubt be helpful for anyone looking for something along the line. You should definitely keep contributing to the ELL community - yes, we need your help, Nella :) Thank you, again.
    – Arman
    Sep 9, 2015 at 22:14
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A very common one (at least in the United States) is to say that "A gave B a/the cold shoulder."

The implication here is that A has agency over whom she chooses to interact with, and elected to literally and/or figuratively turn her back on B - paying virtually no attention to B at all. This is not necessarily in the context of B trying to "pick up" A, but it is often used in that scenario. This is different from "ignored" in that it requires that B was trying to interact with A. It is possible for two people to ignore each other, but two people cannot really both give each other the cold shoulder - someone has to try to engage the other and be rebuffed.


If A did pay some amount of attention to be, but did so in a dismissive, possibly public, possibly shaming way, then you might say that A snubbed B. This could be used as a criticism of A - as in some degree of over-reaction - but isn't necessarily so.


Rebuffed is a similar word to snubbed. The difference is that snubbing implies at least a little bit of open disrespect. In rebuffing B, A would simply give an abrupt and conclusive rejection of B's advances, but (could) do so in a basically polite manner that allows B to save face.


Spurn carries abit of an implication that perhaps A is missing out on a good thing by rejecting B, so that is probably not what you want.


Vulgar answer (Select to view)

Cock-block:
This expression is more commonly employed with a third party (e.g. B was trying to get with A last night, but then C showed up and cocked blocked him with some stupid conversation about upholstery. The implication is that B is being someone of a jerk - (using canned pickup lines/showing off), with the intent of eventually having physical intimacy with A. Less commonly, the hit-upon party can do the cock-blocking herself: if A is a female, and she abruptly rejects B's attempts to pick her up, she has cock-blocked him.
Derivation should be obvious.

This differs from the other offerings in that it is the only one which refers only to amorous advances. Spurn, cold shoulder, rebuff, etc could all be used in other contexts. (For example, at a party B might make an attempt to talk to a potential investor, A, about B's latest invention. A could react by giving A the cold shoulder. (Or the others.)

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  • Thanks, Adam. Just wondering can this also be said in a bit more vulgar way?
    – Arman
    Sep 8, 2015 at 22:00
  • Now it's just perfect :) Thank you! So much to learn..
    – Arman
    Sep 8, 2015 at 22:07
  • Thanks for upvoting. I like my answer too, but in general, I would encourage you not to accept an answer right away, especially on a question such as this one that calls for at least a little subjectivity. There are probably some other very good answers out there that I haven't thought of, and possibly even people who disagree with me on these answers. Best to let a question sit for at least a half day before marking it answered.
    – Adam
    Sep 8, 2015 at 22:12
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    True. Followed your advice, Adam. To encourage more people to post their answers. Let's see what others think on this too. But yours is just a very detailed one. I was especially glad to hear "to give a cold shoulder". Remembered it but wrongly and it was difficult to find on the internet.
    – Arman
    Sep 8, 2015 at 22:21
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    My understanding of "cock-blocked" is that it describes a situation in which a third party interferes: "A tried to hit on B, but C cock-blocked him."
    – mweiss
    Sep 9, 2015 at 2:46
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Here are some more American phrases, I don't know for sure if they apply elsewhere.

She just tuned him out.

This implies that she ignored him, possibly without even responding to him in any way. Similar to give the cold shoulder.

She wouldn't give him the time of day.

This implies that she rejected him dismissively, or again possibly ignored his advances entirely.

She just brushed him off/aside.

He was so unimportant to her, she treated him like an insect or speck of dust!

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I would add:

Mike was trying to pick her up at the party yesterday but she just blew him off.

See blow off, possibly

8) and blow someone off
- to ignore someone in order to end a romantic or other relationship.
She knew that he had blown her off when he didn't even call her for a month. Steve blew off Rachel before he started seeing Jane.

This would be considered rather rude, though.

(AmE disclaimer)

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    Be careful using this outside the US. In the UK, it is not a common phrase, whereas 'to blow someone' is a sexual slang and much more common. The nearest equivalent is 'to blow someone out' which is a local slang for cancelling an arrangement. But please avoid in the UK. Especially when the object of the sentence is male.
    – Phil H
    Sep 9, 2015 at 7:57
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    @PhilH (I am UK based) - the meaning of 'she blew him off' is clear, and completely different from 'she blew him', and I don't think anyone would confuse the two. 'she blew him out' as you say is different again (cancellation), as is 'she blew him up' (explosion) or 'she blew him away' (she impressed him) or 'she blew him down' (after she'd huffed and she'd puffed presumably). IE people are happy differentiating compound verbs based on prepositions.
    – abligh
    Sep 9, 2015 at 9:57
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    @abligh, I'm also UK based, and would definitely snigger at "she blew him off" and this would probably be my initial interpretation. Though I'm sure with context I'd understand the intended meaning. This could just be down to the fact however that I'm a man and we never mature. 😏 Sep 9, 2015 at 11:23
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    BrE here, I think whether you find "blew him off" understandable in context or not depends on your age. Personally, I only ever heard it in American TV shows and movies from the 90s onwards.
    – Chris Down
    Sep 9, 2015 at 13:42
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    @PhilH and others. Sorry I did not know BrE side of this. I edited my answer to indicate it is from AmE point of view..
    – user3169
    Sep 9, 2015 at 16:18
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Another thing you could say is:

"She dissed him". Dissed is slang for disrespected.

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  • I don't think rejecting someone who is rude to you is the same thing as dissing them. If anything, she was the one that got dissed.
    – ColleenV
    Sep 9, 2015 at 16:58

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