![]() You never make tea! I'm going to say something about this.ĭon't wake up the sleeping dogs. Shouldn't you be making tea? I thought you were keeping quiet. You're right Neil, it's not worth making a fuss - we definitely don't want Rob to be making our tea too often.īut hold on. Can't you remember why we had a new tea-making rota? It was because Rob makes such awful tea that we wanted him to make less of it! That's all very well, but it still seems unfair that I'm the one who has to make tea the most.Ĭome on, Feifei. This is The English We Speak from the BBC and we're finding out about the phrase 'let sleeping dogs lie', meaning to 'leave a situation as it is and avoid causing trouble or restarting an old problem'. Let sleeping dogs lie and talk about something else. Let's not go over last night's performance: let sleeping dogs lie and move on.ĭon't remind her about the divorce. Ausdruck let inflects If someone tells you to let sleeping dogs lie, they are warning you not to disturb or interfere with a situation, because you are likely to cause trouble and problems. I was going to mention the argument we had last night, but decided to let sleeping dogs lie. Let's hear some more examples of this phrase. So, just like avoiding waking up a dog and making it angry, let sleeping dogs lie. Eventually, they decided it would be best to let sleeping dogs lie and not discuss. Let sleeping dogs lie? You mean 'leave things as they are to avoid causing trouble or restarting an old argument'?Įxactly! We had this argument before and the result was this new tea-making rota. Definition of let the sleeping dogs lie in English Turkish dictionary. Is it that important Feifei? If I were you, I'd let sleeping dogs lie. I'm really going to complain about this at the next team meeting. Look! Feifei – Monday morning, Tuesday afternoon, Thursday morning and every other Friday. ![]() We have a new tea-making rota, and it seems that Rob will be making less tea than me. So come on Feifei, you've been grumpy all morning – what's upset you? Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. Find out what this phrase means in this programme. The French equivalent is “n’esveillez pas lou chien qui dort,” or wake not the sleeping dog.Feifei's not happy that she's got to make more tea for the team, but it's best for her not to make a fuss - and to let sleeping dogs lie. 1824 – Sir Walter Scott’s Redgauntlet – “Take my advice, and spear as little about him as he does about you.Covil’s Whigs’ Supplication – “It’s best To let a sleeping mastiff rest. 1546 – John Heywood’s Dialogue of Proverbs – “It is euil wakying of a slepying dog.1385 – it appeared in Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde as “It is nought good a slepying hound to wake.”.The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs lists the following appearances, among other 1 Speake, Jennifer. ![]() This idiom has existed in some form since at least the 1300’s. That you should ‘let sleeping dogs lie,’ is an old concept. This last gives a glimpse into the metaphor: If a ‘problem’ isn’t causing any trouble for you, why bring it up? Just like when you wake a sleeping dog, you might get bitten. The idea that some problems are better left unmentioned is such an important concept there are several metaphorical expressions that mean the same thing such as leave well enough alone, (don’t) open a can of worms, don’t rock the boat, and never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you.
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