Nancy from Berthold, North Dakota, used the expression two bits to mean “25 cents.” Her adult daughter had heard neither that expression nor the saying Shave and a haircut, two bits or the cheer Two bits, four bits, six bits, a dollar...
Dexter in Clintonville, Alabama, reports that his Minnesota-born wife was baffled after she sneezed and he responded with Scat cat! Across the American South, this phrase and variations of it serve as an informal response when someone sneezes. Other...
The colorful Spanish idiom planchar la oreja means “to sleep,” but translated literally, it means “to iron the ear,” alluding to flattening one’s ear on a pillow. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
The Spanish word for “sunroof,” that opening in the top of a car, is quemacocos, which has a picturesque origin. Coco is a slang term for “head,” from the resemblance between that body part and a coconut. And the Spanish word quemar means “to burn.”...
The 1955 Glossary of Arctic and Subarctic Terms is a collection of scientific and indigenous terminology that’s dated, but often poetic, which describes the features of an extremely cold landscape. Among those terms are diamond dust, also...
Un coyotito is Mexican Spanish slang for a quick nap — literally, a little coyote. The expression plays on the animal’s nocturnal habits: while coyotes are active at night, a daytime sleeper might echar un coyotito, curling up for a brief snooze...