The Ministry of Higher and secondary education of the Republic of Uzbekistan State World Languages University

to cross someone’s path – (1) to meet someone accidentally. ‘Since I left school, I haven’t crossed Smith’s path, and I can’t say I have any wish to.’ (2) to thwart someone. ‘If Jones crosses your path again, let me know and I’ll put a stop to his interference.’

PITCH

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  to queer someone’s pitch – to thwart or spoil someone’s plans. ‘The War Office queered our pitch by posting me overseas twenty-four hours before our wedding day.’ ‘Queer’ is used as a verb only in this phrase. The pitch refers to the pitching of a tent in which a street vendor could carry on his business or a circus performer could entertain the public. Sometimes the police would order these tented structures to be taken down, thus ‘queering someone’s pitch’.
  

TRANSPORT AND TRAFFIC

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  to be a slow coach – to be very slow in one’s actions, to keep one’s companions waiting impatiently. ‘What a slow coach you are! Do hurry up; everyone is waiting for you.”
  
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  to jump the queue – to try to seize an advantage without waiting one’s turn. ‘Everyone queues up in England. You’d make yourself very unpopular if you jumped the queue.’
  
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  to miss the bus – to lose an opportunity. ‘I am fifty years old but I still haven’t been promoted. Now it’s too late; I’ve missed the bus.’ cf. ‘to miss’ the boat’.
  
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  to tell someone where to get off – to give someone a stern rebuke. ‘When Joe started lecturing me on how to paint, I soon told him where to get off. He seemed to forget that I’ve had years of experience at it and he is only a beginner.’ The phrase refers to the bus-conductor’s right to order any passenger off a bus if he makes trouble.
  
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  to fall off the back of a lorry – a euphemism for ‘to be stolen’. ‘I wonder where Philip got that crate of very expensive wine. Did it fall off the back of a lorry?’
  
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  a backseat driver – someone who offers unwanted advice to the person in charge, while having no responsibility himself for the way a task is performed. ‘We’d manage much better without the help of backseat drivers like Williams.’ The phrase refers to the passenger in the back of a car, who is always telling the driver what to do.