Hello,
I am resuming work on the idioms we teach our students, and the two idioms which I find confusing are
hit pay dirt and tap a gusher.
As for hit pay dirt, the Dictionary of American Slang by Richard A. Spears gives the following definitions:
- tr. To discover something of value
- tr. To get to the basic facts of something
As for tap a gusher, our university books of idioms give the following definition – to start to earn good money from a great moneymaking structure.
Here are some lines from my story. Could you tell me if they make sense?
But Eric turned the tables on our competitors.
First, Eric did not nickel and dime the local companies for every service we provide.
Second, we tapped a gusher when we allowed local businessmen to invest their capital in some of our facilities.
We did hit pay dirt back then. But the going was tough. …
Thank you for you time and help.