UN EMPUJONCITO AND THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

As a consulting bilingual phraseological detective, I am visited by many scholars who, bereft of the help of dictionaries, seek my help in duplicating idioms from and into English and Spanish. One of them, whose name I will withhold because he is in high cultural spheres in Spain, told me "necesito un empujoncito en mis investigaciones" and needed an English expression or idiom that would express that idea. We chatted for a while over a pipe of marihuana and a cup of coffee, and I mentioned another such Spanish phrase: "dar trato de favor" which, in essence, has the same meaning. He pondered for a while and asked me: "Cood it bee dat de Englis do not seek extra help from others" which I translated as "Could it be that the English do not seek extra help from others"? "Strange as it may seem, the English are as deceitful and canning as the Spanish." I jumped from my armchair, opened a common book I keep, and showed him this: "to give a leg up to someone: to help someone to achieve something by giving them an advantage that others do not have." Then I produced two citations:

 “Wesleyan University… is ending legacy admissions, which give a leg up to the children of alumni.” New York Times, July 19, 2023. US. || “The new rules give businesses here a leg up from competition from other countries.” Paul Heacock, Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms, 2003. US.