Catina from Abilene, Texas, says her young daughter and her friends fondly refer to each other with the word sigma. The slang terms sigma and sigma male were originally used in the manosphere to denote “an outsider,” and carried a...
In 2006, the International Astronomical Union kicked Pluto off its planetary pedestal. In his delightful book How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming (Bookshop|Amazon) astronomer Mike Brown recounts the events leading up to the demotion of that...
The Portuguese idiom virar a noite refers to doing something all night, such as studying or dancing. Literally, virar a noite means “to turn over the night.” In French a sleepless night is a nuit blanche, or “white night.”...
Michael from Jones, Michigan, says he was stationed on a U.S. Army base in Germany in the early 1960s. If there was a gust of cold wind, a fellow soldier would say the hawk’s out. This expression is largely associated with Chicago, Illinois...
Eduarda phones from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to ask about the English expression burn the midnight oil, meaning “to work late.” The phrase goes back to the days of having to use oil lamps for illumination at night. A Spanish idiom...
After our chat about tongue twisters, a Chicago, Illinois, listener shares one that looks much easier than it sounds: Irish wristwatch. This is part of a complete episode.