give somebody a bellyache

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pars

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Joined
Aug 11, 2015
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Student or Learner
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Persian
Home Country
Iran
Current Location
Iran
Hi:
What does "give somebody a bellyache" mean?
Thanks very much.
 
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It is not used where I live, but if it is about a person's activity or personality I presume it means they are being annoying or disruptive. We do call people a pain in the neck or a pain in the butt or ass.
 
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Also, if someone tells you to stop bellyaching, they mean you are complaining too much.
 
Dear all: Thanks very much . I got it. Thanks again.
 
[STRIKE]Dear all:[/STRIKE] Thanks very much. I've got it. Thanks again.

Note my corrections above. There is no need to write a post to say thank you to anyone. Simply use the "Thank" button. It saves time for everyone.
 
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And the keystrokes you made would have been better spent telling us in what context you saw/heard this, as asked earlier.
 
I am so sorry,
 
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I am so sorry,

Don't apologise. Just tell us the source and author. Please don't post again unless it's to do that.
 
It is from the book Iranian-Russian Encounters, p. 108.

The author of the book is Sohrab Yazdani (Iranian) and the book's editor is Stephanie Cronin.
 
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Hi:
The "bellyache" was used in this title:
How the Russians hosted the entrepreneur who gave them a bellyache?

It is a title in the book Iranian-Russian Encounters, p. 108. The book is a collection of articles. That article is about an Iranian merchant in nearly 115 years ago who began to build a road, but after many problems, he fled to the Russian legation while soldiers were chasing him into the legation, where the clashes continues, however, that merchant survived and took refuge into the legation.

Thanks very much.
 
It's not a natural use of 'bellyache' in AmE. I wonder if it's an attempt at a direct translation from Farsi or whatever native language the author speaks. It's understandable, but not a common use of the term 'bellyache'.

One of the suggestions Probus offered in post #2 would work better. Other more appropriate expressions are 'thorn in their side' or even a 'burr under their saddle'. Any of these suggestions would require tweaking the wording a bit.
 
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