dog that caught the car
- idiom
- Informal
:
perro que atrapó el coche
- After years of working for a promotion, he finally got it and felt like a dog that caught the car, unsure of what to do next.
Examples
-
She campaigned hard for the role but was a dog that caught the car when faced with its challenges.
-
Winning the lottery left him feeling like a dog that caught the car, uncertain about his next steps.
-
After years of pursuing the promotion, he finally got it and felt like a dog that caught the car.
-
He feels like a dog that caught the car now that he has the promotion!
-
After winning the lottery, she became a dog that caught the car.
-
Having campaigned intensively for the lead role, she felt like a dog that caught the car when the reality of the job set in.
-
When he unexpectedly won the jackpot, he felt like a dog that caught the car with no idea how to handle his new wealth.
Synonyms
A person who suddenly succeeds and then does not know what to do next
How Prepared
Surface Forms
Morphology
dog + that + catch + the + car
The literal constituents ('dog' + 'catch' + 'car') produce a vivid image but do not directly encode the specific sense of achieving a long-sought goal and being unprepared for the consequences. The meaning depends on a metaphorical inference (a small animal unexpectedly catching something beyond its capacity), which a B1 learner might partly guess but not fully predict without exposure, and the expression is relatively culture-specific.
Etymology
Dog that caught the car comes from the funny image of a dog chasing a car and then actually catching it, only to stand there confused and not know what to do next. So, it describes someone who 'gets what they wanted' but is unsure what to do after.