"Echar leña al fuego" en inglés

Por qué los españoles son más amigables con el medio ambiente - In Spain, further provoking and inciting a bad situation requires firewood: echar leña al fuego.

But it seems in English, we go for something much more inflammatory: add fuel to the fire/flames.

Whether that means the English are more provocative or the Spaniards are more environmentally friendly, I don’t know.

But both have the same aim: to make a difficult situation more complicated and harder than it already is. For example, I could say:

🔥 The company is already struggling to keep its numbers in the green to attract investors, if its suppliers were to raise prices now, it would really be adding fuel to the fire.

An alternative would be: to add/rub salt into a wound.

🧂 Not only did Maria just lose her job, her boyfriend breaking up with her the following day really rubbed salt into the wound.

I hope that helps!

Daniel - Tu coach inglés