Amanda in Tucson, Arizona, dislikes the phrase kill two birds with one stone and wants to popularize a non-violent alternative: feed two birds with one seed. An Alaska listener once suggested the phrase save two birds with one stone, perhaps...
Emily from New Orleans, Louisiana, wonders about the expression Holy cow! to indicate surprise or delight. It’s one of many minced oaths, in this case a replacement for the stronger exclamation, Holy Christ! These euphemistic expressions, such...
Mateo in Richmond, Virginia, is curious about a story he heard about the term paper tiger, meaning “something that looks fearsome or ferocious, but is actually flimsy or weak.” It’s not from Tiger, a type of German tank used during...
An article in a 1906 edition of the Minneapolis Journal carried the inviting headline: Noisy Hungry Frogs Sadden Farmer’s Life: They Scare His Cattle and They Also Eat His Flannel Shirt. This is part of a complete episode.
Don’t let your alligator mouth overload your hummingbird butt! is a more picturesque way of saying “Don’t boast!” This is part of a complete episode.
A kangaroo word is a word that contains letters that appear in the same order and form a synonym. Examples include the verb regulate, which contains rule; masculine, which contains male; blossom which contains bloom; and precipitation, which has...