Tema

Spill the beans and spill the works =Fig. to give away a secret or a surprise; to tell people secret information It was then that she threatened to spill the beans about her affair with the president. There is a surprise party for Heidi on Wednesday. Please don't spill the beans. Paul spilled the works about Heidi's party. A rolling stone gathers no moss is an old proverb, credited to Publilius Syrus, who in his Sententiae states, People who are always moving, with no roots in one place, avoid responsibilities and cares. As such, the proverb is often interpreted as referring to figurative nomads who avoid taking on responsibilities or cultivating or advancing their own knowledge, experience, or culture. Another interpretation equates "moss" to "stagnation"; as such the proverb can also refer to those who keep moving as never lacking for fresh ideas or creativity. To pull strings= to secretly use the influence that you have over important people in order to get something or to help someone: I may be able to pull a few strings for you if you need the document urgently. Add fuel to the fire and add fuel to the flame = Fig. to make a problem worse; to say or do something that makes a bad situation worse; to make an angry person get even angrier. (Alludes to causing a flame to grow larger someone or something to move forward when fuel is added.) Shouting at a crying child just adds fuel to the fire. Be like looking for a needle in a haystack- to be difficult or impossible to find I don't know how you find anything in your desk, Polly. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack. To make beeline= go in a straight line, from the behaviour of bees. When a bee finds nectar it returns to the hive and displays to the other bees the direction of the find. The other bees then 'make a beeline' for it. Whenever he goes to a football game he always makes a beeline for the food stand. To leave no stone unturned= if you leave no stone unturned, you look everywhere in order to find something, or try everything in order to achieve something. Ari has left no stone unturned in her search for a job in television, but so far she hasn't had any luck. The leaders of the countries involved in the dispute claim they've left no stone unturned in their quest for a peaceful solution. To put/set the cat among the pigeons (British & Australian)= to do or say something that causes trouble and makes a lot of people angry or worried Tell them all they've got to work on Saturday. That should set the cat among the pigeons. To see which way the cat jumps/ wait for the cat to jump = some people refuse to take risks. They wait to see what is going to happen before they pass an opinion or take a decision about something. This refusal to commit oneself to a course of action until one is sure of what is going to happen is called to see which way the cat jumps. Another expression which has more or less the same meaning is to see which way the wind blows. The couple waited to see which way the cat jumped before they started investing in the company. *foul one's own nest > a-si da foc la valiza *