Could anyone tell me which idioms are used in the following situations?
1. A couple live in countryside and a remote area. They tell their friend they want to get away from XX and XX. (It seems the first ‘XX’ word with sound ‘H’ and the second ‘XX’ word with sound ‘P’.)
2. A husband urges his wife to quit her job because her health is getting worse. But she hesitates to resign from her position for she has many unfinished projects in hand. She worries those projects will become a mess after she leaves.
Then her husband say, ‘Don’t XX and XX, you must quit the job now! Your projects will never finish. One project nearly comes to an end but another project will start. It is a never ending loop.’ (It seems those ‘XX’ words with sound ‘D’.)
Thank you in advance.
Last edited by dawnngcm; 08-Dec-2011 at 14:50.
(Not a Teacher)
1) Hustle and bustle
I'm not sure about the second one. What you say seems to imply that this is an audio. Is there any way I could listen to it?
As for the second one - dilly-dally? Diddle-daddle?![]()
The OP may have misheard.
Without having the original meterial to hand (link maybe?), I would expect "hustle and bustle" to be probably correct.
For the second one, he might have said "dither and dather".
Thank you very much, all of you.
1.
Yes, I think ‘hustle and bustle’ is the idiom.
I heard it in the movie ‘Did you heard about the Morgans?’. When they drove and just passed a small town, Mary Steenburgen told Sarah Jessica Parker that it is not the location because she and her husband (in the film) wanted to get away from the ‘hustle and bustle’.
P.S. Our HBO only provided Chinese subtitle but no English.
2.
I heard the idiom from my friend. The situation above is why he said that idiom. I don’t remember if ‘and’ is really included because he said it several months ago. My dim memory only remembers the idiom with ‘D’ sound.
I think ‘dilly-dally’ fits the situation because I remember the sound of the two words are short and very close.
Thank you again!