Animal idioms

[probus]

"To bug" someone is slang for "to annoy".

And a wild goose chase is a fool's errand.

Henry was hanging around bugging me so I sent him off on a wild goose chase.

[probus]

"Well I'll be a monkey's uncle" is an expression indicating astonishment or disbelief.

It's rather old-fashioned, I suppose -- I haven't heard it for years.

[probus]

To have a tiger by the tail is to have a task or problem that is very difficult to solve and very difficult to disengage from. It may also indicate that the task or problem obsesses the person who has the tiger by the tail.

[probus]

A red herring is anything intended to distract people from the main issue.
The idiom originated in the world of business and finance, but has since moved into more general usage.

We don't want them thinking too much about the risk of default, so we'll use the warranty issue as a red herring.

[probus]

"Weasel words" are like fine print -- words that are intended to deceive, fool or cheat.

We thought our beach house was insured against all risks, but when the hurricane washed it away we found the weasel words in the policy -- flood damage was not covered.