Idiom: 'sweep under the carpet'

[Haihao]

English Idioms and Expressions, Intermediate level

ESL/EFL Test #11 "Home Sweet Home", question 9

Finally there's one thing you can't just sweep under the carpet and that is the missing roof!

(a) forget
(b) remember
(c) ignore
(d) interpret

English Idioms and Expressions, Intermediate level

ESL/EFL Test #11 "Home Sweet Home", answer 9

Finally there's one thing you can't just ignore and that is the missing roof!

Correct answer: (c) ignore

Your answer was: correct
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It's my first time coming up against this idiom. My first image was, the way to sweep was wrong because he should have 'swept over the carpet'. So the idiom seemed to me as something performed in a wrong way. Could anyone tell me the right image of the idiom? Thank you.

[Canadian45]

You don't sweep the carpet (or rug); you lift up a corner of it and sweep dust or dirt under the carpet. You hide the dust or dirt under the carpet so that you don't see it and can ignore it.

Sweeping a problem under the carpet means ignoring it, pretending it doesn't exist.

[Haihao]

Thank you very much, canadian45. Now I guess I could make a better view of this idiom. Can I understand it like this: sweep sth under the carpet = put (in order to clean up) sth under the carpet? This way, we don't sweep sth which is originally under the carpet but we sweep sth which is originally somewhere else (into) under the carpet so that we can no longer see it.

Sorry for the harangue. Thanks again. haihao

[Alan]

Hi Haihao,

I think to get the idea behind this figurative expression, which is after all simply an image to illustrate an idea, you have to imagine a situation where you see someone who is not good at cleaning. He is really too lazy to pick up/sweep up all the dust and dirt on the floor so he lifts up a carpet or rug and sweeps some of the dirt under the carpet to give the impression that he has finished cleaning the floor. When we transfer this image to the expression we are suggesting that someone is not really finding a solution to the problem (the dirt and dust) but is simply ignoring it (sweeping it under the carpet) to give the impression that there is no problem.

A
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[Haihao]

Hi! Nice to see you again, Alan. many thanks. So, the picture that someone sweeps sth which is under the carpet is alright then. In this way, the point should be that the person who sweeps only wants to get a kind of self-satisfaction while doesn't take pains to find a real solution to the problem. Can I understand it like this?

haihao