14.8. Vocabulary.

Explain the names of these famous bands below.

All of them have taken their name from famous idioms, popular sayings, or words with interesting meanings.

Our business is in dire straits. To have very bad, or severe (usually financial) problems.

The supergrass told the police everything. This is a police informer, often a big time criminal or Mafioso who trades information for a less severe punishment.

A rolling stone gathers no moss. This is a traditional saying or proverb from which the band took their name. ‘The rolling stone’ means ‘an itinerant, unattached person who moves from one place to another’. (Keith Richards and Mick Jagger’s idol bluesman Muddy Waters had a song called ‘I’m a rolling stone’). Moss is a green plant that grows over stones or buildings. The metaphor is that moss can’t grow over a rock that is moving, and that a person that constantly moves avoids responsibilities taking him over.

They were burning the midnight oil. To work very late into the night.

The spin doctors were the real reason that the party won the election. This is a fairly  new addition to the dictionary. It refers to the people who work behind the scenes to guarantee that a political campaign maintains a positive public image.

I can’t find my UB40, they won’t let me sign on. This is the social security’s Unemployment Benefit Form 40, a document that you take with you to the Benefit Office to claim money.

The government want to maintain the status quo and not bring about any drastic changes. A Latin word meaning ’the current situation’ or ‘the way things are at the moment’.

You should be careful with that plant, it might sting you! ‘To cause pain by putting poison into your body’. This is what insects, such as bees and wasps, do.

The runners went by so fast, that all I could see was a blur. The photos came out blurred too. An unclear or out-of-focus image or photo caused by movement to the camera or an object that moves at a high speed.