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分享一个知识点解析： Reader question: What does this sentence - Al Jazeera has been a thorn in the side of the Bush administration in the Middle East - mean, and in particular “thorn in the side”? My comments: In other words, Al Jazeera, the Qatari pan-Arab television station has been a pain in the arse, pardon the expression, to the US government. Because it’s not pro-American, not as most mainstream media are pro-American at any rate. “Thorn in the side” literally means for someone to have gotten a thin piece of thorn into the flesh of their torso, presumably either in the left or right or the back side. In the SIDE (not in the neck or belly), because presumably if the thorn is in the front of the body, you can remove it more or less easily – and therefore it would not be THORNY enough as a problem(^-^). Imagine yourself with such a predicament, with a thorn, say, in the back where you can’t quite reach with your hands. It’s irritating. It’s annoying. It may not be an issue of life and death such as, you know, a broken neck or a brain tumor, but it bothers you nevertheless. You’re itching. You know it’s there and there’s nothing you can do about it. Of course there is always something you CAN do. You can, for instance have that whole piece flesh cut off along with the thorn in it, but then why would anyone overkill like that? | 
