While the cat's away..........

[sanfaina]

Hi everyone!!

There's a saying in Spanish that more or less translates as "The eye of the boss, fattens the horse", in English. I do know of "While the cat's away, the mice will play". Is there a more approximate saying to the Spanish one in English??

Thank you all very much in advance.

Regards, s.

[monty mike]

Hmmm, "The eye of the boss, fattens the horse" and "While the cat's away, the mice will play" have two very different meanings. For me, the first one implies that when something is nurtured with care and attention it will grow strong and healthy, whilst the second one simply means that when the boss is not around, for example, the workers will be unproductive.

Not sure if this helps.

[Anglika]

See here as well: http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/en...ens-horse.html

[VSPrasad]

Idioms: when the cat's away, the mice will play

Without supervision, people will do as they please, especially in disregarding or breaking rules. For example, As soon as their parents left, the children invited all their friends over--when the cat's away, you know. This expression has been a proverb since about 1600 and is so well known it is often shortened, as in the example.

http://www.answers.com/topic/when-th...mice-will-play

Where there is no cat, the rat is king.