red herring

red her|ring (red herrings)
[N-COUNT]
If you say that something is a red herring, you mean that it is not important and it takes your attention away from the main subject or problem you are considering.

As Dr Smith left he said that the inquiry was something of a red herring.

jay·walk

v.
Pronunciation: 'jā-ˌwȯk
Function: intransitive verb
Date: 1919

: to cross a street carelessly or in an illegal manner so as to be endangered by traffic

band|wagon

/b'ændwægən/ (bandwagons)
1 [N-COUNT] usu sing
You can refer to an activity or movement that has suddenly become fashionable or popular as a bandwagon.
So what is really happening as the information bandwagon starts to roll?
...the environmental bandwagon.

2 [N-COUNT] usu sing
If someone, especially a politician, jumps or climbs on the bandwagon, they become involved in an activity or movement because it is fashionable or likely to succeed and not because they are really interested in it.
Many farms are jumping on the bandwagon and advertising organically grown food...

ambush

An ambush is an attack on someone by people who have been hiding and waiting for them. A policeman has been shot dead in an ambush.

impunity

If you say that someone does something with impunity, you disapprove of the fact that they are not punished for doing something bad.
These gangs operate with apparent impunity. [disapproval]

private parts

Your private parts are your genitals. (INFORMAL)
= privates

knapsack

 (knapsacks) A knapsack is a canvas or leather bag that you carry on your back or over your shoulder, for example when you are walking in the countryside.

sermon

 (sermons) A sermon is a talk on a religious or moral subject that is given by a member of the clergy as part of a church service.
Homily, exhortation, religious discourse.

1) to deliver, give, preach a sermon 
2) a lay sermon 

setback

also set-back (setbacks) A setback is an event that delays your progress or reverses some of the progress that you have made.
The move represents a setback for the Middle East peace process... : for/in/to

discernible

If something is discernible, you can see it or recognize that it exists. (FORMAL)
Far away the outline of the island is just discernible...

retarded

Someone who is retarded is much less advanced mentally than most people of their age. (OLD-FASHIONED)
...a special school for mentally retarded children.

silver tongue

a tendency to be eloquent and persuasive in speaking.

bondage

1. Bondage is the condition of being someone’s property and having to work for them.
Masters sometimes allowed their slaves to buy their way out of bondage. = slavery 
2. Bondage is the condition of not being free because you are strongly influenced by something or someone. (FORMAL)
All people, she said, lived their lives in bondage to hunger, pain and lust.
3. Bondage is the practice of being tied up or tying your partner up in order to gain sexual pleasure.

Servitude, slavery, thraldom, captivity, imprisonment, confinement, bond-service, bonds, restraint of personal liberty.

Syn: servitude , serfdom , slavery 
Syn: subjection , dependence 
Syn: sadomasochism 

no skin off one's nose

informal not a matter that affects one adversely

fair and square

honestly and straightforwardly
we won the match fair and square

menage a trois

also ménage à trois (menages a trois)
A menage a trois is a situation where three people live together, especially when one of them is having a sexual relationship with both of the others.

purgatory

1. Purgatory is the place where Roman Catholics believe the spirits of dead people are sent to suffer for their sins before they go to heaven.
Prayers were said for souls in Purgatory.
 2. You can describe a very unpleasant experience as purgatory.
Every step of the last three miles was purgatory. 
five years of economic purgatory. 
= hell

squirrelly

['skwər(ə)lē] squir·rel·ly
1) relating to or resembling a squirrel
the chipmunks were little squirrelly things
2) informal
restless, nervous, or unpredictable
■ eccentric or insane

nutbag

someone who is a little bit crazy, a little bit squirrelly

That dude just talked for half an hour straight about flying saucers and their connection to the tabasco sauce industry. What a nutbag!

exacting

You use exacting to describe something or someone that demands hard work and a great deal of care.

The Duke was not well enough to carry out such an exacting task

Dung

 is faeces from animals, especially from large animals such as cattle and horses.

in due course

after a normal passage of time :
in the expected or allotted time

his discoveries led in due course to new forms of treatment

at the appropriate time

syn.:  in due season, in due time, in good time, when the time comes
 

In plain English, please

scum

1. If you refer to people as scum, you are expressing your feelings of dislike and disgust for them. (INFORMAL) [disapproval]

2. Scum is a layer of a dirty or unpleasant-looking substance on the surface of a liquid.

Froth, dross, refuse, recrement, scoria.

Инглиш - hearsay

Hearsay is information which you have been told but do not know to be true.

Much of what was reported to them was hearsay...

Synonyms - Rumor, report, fame, bruit, common talk, town talk.

Надо понимать и gossip. 

Все еще учу Инглиш

If you wear someone down, you make them gradually weaker or less determined until they eventually do what you want.

They hoped the waiting and the uncertainty would wear down my resistance...

He believed that he could wear her down if he only asked often enough.