To wear one's heart on one's sleeve and have one's heart on one's sleeve

Fig. to display one's feelings openly and habitually, rather than keep them private. 
People who wear their heart on their sleeve express their emotions freely and openly, for all to see.

• John always has his heart on his sleeve so that everyone knows how he feels. 

• Because she wears her heart on her sleeve, it's easy to hurt her feelings.

Gullibility

credulousness.-naïveté, crédulité

Ahead of the curve

Similar to ahead of the pack, ahead of the curve literally refers to your position on the statistical bell curve, where the top of the curve represents the median, average result. 

By being ahead of the curve you represent the top percentile of results that either has the advanced skills or understanding that sets you apart.

to be behind the curve:
not keeping up with current thinking or trends

Chipmunk

Chipmunks are small, striped rodents of the family Sciuridae. Chipmunks are found in North America, with the exception of the Siberian chipmunk which is found primarily in Asia.










Photograph by Susan Breau
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/chipmunk/

Right up (down) my alley

up one's street ( alley): well suited to one's tastes, interests, or abilities.- Cela me convient parfaitement, c'est fait pour moi. 

• this job would be right up your street
• Skiing is right down my alley. I love it. 
• This kind of thing is right up John's alley.

Artic Monkeys - I Wanna Be Yours

"I Wanna Be Yours"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JkaoOzb-PY

I wanna be your vacuum cleaner

Breathing in your dust

I wanna be your Ford Cortina

I won't ever rust

If you like your coffee hot

Let me be your coffee pot

You call the shots babe

I just wanna be yours

Secrets that I have held in my heart

Are harder to hide than I thought

Maybe I just wanna be yours

I wanna be yours, I wanna be yours

Wanna be yours, wanna be yours, wanna be yours

Let me be your 'leccy meter and I'll never run out

And let me be the portable heater that you'll get cold without

I wanna be your setting lotion (I wanna be)

Hold your hair in deep devotion (How deep?)

I'll be at least as deep

As the Pacific Ocean

I wanna be yours

Secrets that I have held in my heart

Are harder to hide than I thought

Maybe I just wanna be yours

I wanna be yours, I wanna be yours

Wanna be yours, wanna be yours, wanna be yours

Wanna be yours, wanna be yours, wanna be yours...

I wanna be your vacuum cleaner

Breathing in your dust

I wanna be your Ford Cortina

I won't ever rust

I just wanna be yours

(Wanna be yours)

I just wanna be yours

(Wanna be yours)

I just wanna be yours

(Wanna be yours)

To hunker down

hunker down:  US, figurative (prepare to endure, resist). - se replier, tenir bon
 

• Any company that wants to survive this recession must hunker down, reduce costs and cut investment to the bare minimum.

Other meanings:

1. To sit on the heels with the knees bent forward; squat: My personal trainer hunkered down to help me with the barbells. - s'accroupir
2. To take shelter or refuge: The campers hunkered down in the cabin during the blizzard. - se réfugier
3. To hold stubbornly to some position: The candidates hunkered down and refused to admit their mistakes.- se braquer
4. To apply oneself and start working seriously at something: You need to hunker down and study if you're going to pass that test.- tenir bon

Happy Boxing Day!

Boxing Day is a holiday traditionally celebrated the weekday or Saturday following Christmas Day, when servants and tradesmen would receive gifts, known as a "Christmas box", from their masters, employers or customers, in the United Kingdom. 

Today, Boxing Day is the bank holiday or public holiday that generally takes place on 26 or 27 December. (from Wikipedia)

The Oxford English Dictionary gives the earliest attestations of the term as being from England in the 1830s, defining it as 'the first week-day after Christmas-day, observed as a holiday on which post-men, errand-boys, and servants of various kinds expect to receive a Christmas-box'.

For hours on end

Four hours on end, for many hours. durant des heures

• We sat and waited in the emergency room for hours on end. 
• The children were happy to play video games for hours on end.

The final/last straw

The last straw (also the straw that breaks the camel's back). le coup de grâce, la goutte qui fait déborder le vase

• Losing my ​job was ​bad enough, but being ​evicted was the ​final straw.
• She's always been ​rude to me, but it was the last straw when she ​started ​insulting my ​mother.

To show off

He's showing off to impress her. frimer, se la pêter (très familier)

show [sth/sb] off (display proudly). montrer, exhiber, mettre en avant

• When his famous mother came to school, he showed her off to all his friends.

show [sth] off (draw attention to). mettre en valeur

• He bought a close-fitting shirt that showed off his newly developed muscles.

For my English speaking friends:

In French "alors heureuse" is a joke to mock men thinking that they are sooo irresistible that their presence is enough to make a woman happy ;=) 

Credit where credit is due

The use of the phrase credit where credit is due in an absolute sense (without a verb such as give, take or deserve) is far more common in UK English than US. The phrase is more likely to be used in the grudging sense in UK than US English.
Comment for my English speaking friends: a common expression to translate this idea in French is:"Rendons à César ce qui appartient à César"

• Credit where credit is due, he's a good player.
• We must give credit to our sponsors who helped pay for this new building.
• I'll give her credit for her beautiful handwriting, but the answers she gave in the test were all wrong!
• Give me credit - I worked all night to get the project finished!

to offer/hold out an olive branch

an offer of reconciliation.

According to the Biblical story, after the great flood, Noah sends out a dove to see if the waters have subsided. The dove returns with a fresh olive leaf in her beak and since then the dove became a symbol of peace.

• the government is holding out an olive branch to the demonstrators

to hear something through the grapevine

To hear news from someone who heard that news from someone else, to learn of something informally  by means of gossip and rumor. The information was passed person to person by word of mouth.

• I heard through the grapevine that she was pregnant, but I don'tknow anything more.

El Condor Pasa - lyrics

"El Condor Pasa (If I Could)" SIMON & GARFUNKEL
https://youtu.be/pey29CLID3I

Original version a melody from the Incas: 
https://youtu.be/i8eGnOM7YCg

I'd rather be a sparrow than a snail
Yes I would, if I could, I surely would
I'd rather be a hammer than a nail
Yes I would, if I only could, I surely would

Away, I'd rather sail away
Like a swan that's here and gone
A man gets tied up to the ground
He gives the world it's saddest sound
Its saddest sound

I'd rather be a forest than a street
Yes I would, if I could, I surely would
I'd rather feel the earth beneath my feet
Yes I would, if I only could, I surely would

Forewarned is forearmed

If you know about something beforehand, you can prepare for it, prior knowledge of possible dangers or problems gives one a tactical advantage. Un homme averti en vaut deux

To click with someone

to catch on with someone. - le courant est passé avec quelqu'un

1. [for something] to be understood or comprehended by someone suddenly. 

• His explanation clicked with Maggie at once. It rings the bell.

2. [for someone or something new] to catch on with someone; to become popular or friendly with someone very quickly.

• The new product clicked with consumers and was an instant success. 
• I clicked with Tom the moment I met him.

Fiery/feisty temper

Fiery personality, fiery temper: enthusiastic, ardent, fiery, feisty, dashing.- caractère, tempérament fougueux, enflammé, ardent

The Mediterranean island of Corsica had come under French jurisdiction shortly before Napoleon’s birth in 1769. Its dramatic landscape and distinctive culture, characterised by strong family ties and volatile feuds, are often held to have shaped Napoleon’s nature and values.
(feud=querelle, dispute)

• He gets feisty when he talks about politics.

Skeleton(s) in the closet/cupboard

To have a secret of any sort that you don't want revealed, a hidden and shocking secret.- un cadavre dans le placard

• My uncle was in jail for a day once. That's our family's skeleton in the closet.

Origin:

The phrase 'a skeleton in the closet' was coined in England in the 19th century. Since then the word 'closet' has become used primarily in England to mean 'water closet'. The English now usually use 'a skeleton in the cupboard', with 'skeleton in the closet' more common in the USA.

'A skeleton in the closet' undoubtedly originated as an allusion to an apparently irreproachable person or family having a guilty secret waiting to be uncovered. The close-at-hand domestic imagery of a closet or cupboard gives a sense of the ever-present risk of discovery.

Windbag

slang, figurative, pejorative = [sb] who talks excessively.- grande gueule, moulin à paroles, pipelette

syn: bigmouth, babblermouth, gasbag