cat nap.

If you tell about something that was supposed to be a secret, we say you

let the cat out of the bag

. If you are not able to speak or answer a question someone might ask if

the cat has got your tongue.

Have you ever watched children in a classroom when their teacher leaves for a few minutes?

When the cat's away, the mice will play

means people sometimes misbehave when there is no supervision.

You may have heard this expression:

curiosity killed the cat

. This means being too concerned about things that are not your business might cause problems.

If your home is very small, you might say

there is not enough room to swing a cat.

But you probably should not try this at home!

If you ever had cats as pets, you know it is difficult to train them or to get them to do something. Cats are not like sheep or cows that can be moved in a group. So we say a difficult or impossible job is

like herding cats.

We leave you with a song from the musical play, "Cats."

(MUSIC)

This VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Faith Lapidus.