I am not a native speaker. From my reading and verbal communication, I came to believe that striking a chord means connecting to someone at an emotional level. However, I recently used it somewhere and someone (an American, if relevant) told me that it actually means pissing someone off (quite the opposite of what I thought). Does it mean both or I just used the wrong expression? Or does it have different meanings in British, American and Aussie varieties?
Learn English – What Does Strike a Chord Mean
phrasal-verbsphrasesverbs
Best Answer
It means to hit on a topic that is of importance to person you are speaking to. You can strike a chord either positively or negatively. Positively if you say something that impresses/flatters/connects (positively) with them. Negatively if you speak ill about something that is of importance to them or something that rubs them in the wrong way.
To me its like you can hear a great chord in music or you can hear a chord that is particularly distasteful.
Edit: I think its usually positive, but I've heard it both ways. You wouldn't call something that sounds bad a chord in music unless it was sarcastic, but it is done.