The expression If you don’t chance your arm, you won’t break your neck makes use of the sense of break your neck meaning “to go all out.” The break your neck part may refer to having success from giving all your effort. Chance your arm, meaning “risk your arm,” may have originated in Ireland. In fact, one story about its possible origin involves St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. This is part of a complete episode.
In Newfoundland the word bridge, also spelled brudge, can mean “a deck” or “a porch,” while the word porch refers to an additional room, usually attached at the back of a house, and used as a storage space or mud room. If a Newfoundlander says it’s...
Jennifer teaches yoga on the beach on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and she and her students have been collecting synonyms for derrière, such as dump truck, rear end, and badonkadonk. The last of these has been around for at least 25 years, and was...
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