Reader's question:  I felt that they were probably going to sort of shove it under the carpet.

Could you explain “shove it under the carpet”?

My comments:

If you shove something, say, a cigarette butt, under the carpet, you hide it so that others don’t see.

When you think “they were probably going to sort of shove it under the carpet”, you believe they were not prepared to let it be known. Instead, they were going to hide it, whatever scandalous affair that may be, and keep quiet about it.

In the hope that nobody else will ever find out about it.

Back to the butt of cigarette. Obviously one cannot shove all cigarette butts under the carpet all the time. Sooner or later, you’re going to feel little bumps underfoot when you walk on the carpet and before you know, the room’s going to stink….

Related stories:

With bells on

No harm, no foul

Pick up the slack

length and breadth of

get up to speed on something

Borrowed time

On a shoestring

Shake a leg

Sing to a new tune

Truth lies somewhere in the middle

For all intents and purposes

Past praying for

Nay saying

Kick sth.when it's down

Opening credits

Give somebody a piece of your mind

God only knows

Speak of the devil

Hold a candle to

本文仅代表作者本人观点，与本网立场无关。欢迎大家讨论学术问题，尊重他人，禁止人身攻击和发布一切违反国家现行法律法规的内容。

Zhang Xin has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.