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Fri 26 Mar, 2004 06:04 am
What I want to know is:
Ann and Jack are a happy couple. Since Anite joins the company as a private secretary of Jack, the intimate relationship of the couple seems at risk. Because Anite always tries to date Jack out, and implying several times to Jack that she wants him sue for a divorce with Ann and marry her. In China, we call Anita as "third party" who tries, intentionally or involuntarily, to destroy the happy marriage of a couple (I don't know the proper idiom, so here I ask you).
There are other problems with the text, but the use of "third party" is acceptable.
Hi Setanta, do you think if using "fifth wheel" works there?
Could, in Brazil there's an expression called "holding the candle".
Couldn't "holding the candle" shed light to make the couple's lives bright other than to destroy their marriage?
Oristar, I don't think that third party works here. I'd call her "the other woman."
I'm with Roberta. "the other woman" is a common expression for a mistress. If you want to give a more judgemental flavor to it, say a "homebreaker" for someone who wants to break up a marriage. Just be careful not to say a "housebreaker" - that's a burglar.
Eos, I think the term is homewrecker for a woman who breaks up a marriage.
How about interloper? I think that's the correct word to use in this situation.
(There will be no charge for this service, Oristar.)
Oops. I guess interloper isn't an idiom, now that I've re-read the original question.
(Forget that I was ever here.)
Homewrecker seems right, or "other woman".
The only other more numerical idiom I can think of is "Two's company, three's a crowd."
Hi all,
The other woman or homewrecker hit it!
Thank you.
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