If you've "seen the elephant," it means you've been in combat. But why an elephant? Martha and Grant also discuss some odd idioms in Spanish, including one that translates as "your bowtie is whistling." And what names do you call your grandparents?
This episode first aired January 22, 2011.
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Bangladesh Mustache Idiom
If you're in Bangladesh, the expression that translates as "oiling your mustache in anticipation of the jackfruit tree bearing fruit" makes perfect sense. In English, it means "don't count your chickens." A discussion thread on Reddit with this and many other examples has Martha and Grant talking about odd idioms in other languages.
Fixin' To
A Marine stationed in California says that growing up in North Carolina, he understood the expression fixin' to mean "to be about to."
Overnighted
Some office workers say their word processor's spellchecker always flags the words overnighted and overnighting. Are those words acceptable in a business environment?
Venezuelan Potato Idiom
"You really love peeled potatoes." That's a translation of a Venezuelan idiom describing someone who's lazy. Grant and Martha share other idioms from South America.
Blank My Blank Quiz
Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a word puzzle called "Blank My Blank."
Land o' Goshen
A woman in Burlington, Vermont, says her mother used to use the expression land o' Goshen! to express surprise or amazement. Where is Goshen?
I'm All Set
A Yankee transplant to the South says that restaurant servers are confused when he tells them, "I'm all set." Is he all set to continue his meal, or all set to leave?
Thirty Purple Birds
A woman in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, remembers a ditty she learned from her mother about "thirty purple birds," but with a distinctive pronunciation that sounds more like "Toidy poipel blackbirds / Sittin' on a coibstone / Choipin' and boipin' / And eatin' doity oithworms." Here's the Red Hot Chili Peppers version.
Writing Advice from an Editor
Martha offers excellent writing advice from the former editor of People magazine, Landon Y. Jones.
Mamaw and Papaw
A former Texan wonders if only Texans use the terms Mamaw and Papaw instead of Grandma and Grandpa.
Argentine Handrail Idiom
Martha shares some Argentine idioms, including one that translates as "What a handrail!" for "What a bad smell!"
Origin of Military Expression
A West Point graduate says he and fellow members of the military use the expression He has seen the elephant to mean "He's seen combat." Grant explains that this expression originated outside the military.
Flesh Out vs. Flush Out
Do you flesh out a plan or flush out a plan?
Argentine Worm Idiom
Another Argentine idiom goes arrugaste como frenada de gusano. It means "You were scared," but literally, it's "You wrinkled like a stopping worm."
This episode is hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett, and produced by Stefanie Levine.
Photo by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Used under a Creative Commons license.
Music Used in the Broadcast
| Title | Artist | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Better Half | Funk Inc | Chicken Lickin' | Prestige Records, Inc. |
| Running Away | Funk Inc | Chicken Lickin' | Prestige Records, Inc. |
| Dove | Cymande | Cymande | Collectables |
| Oh! Oh! Here He Comes | Herbie Hancock | Fat Albert Rotunda | Warner Brothers |
| Creation | El Michels Affair | Sounding Out The City | Truth and Soul |
| Slippin' Into Darkness | The Ramsey Lewis Trio | Upendo Ni Pamoja | Columbia |
| Fat Albert Rotunda | Herbie Hancock | Fat Albert Rotunda | Warner Brothers |
| Slide Show | El Michels Affair | Sounding Out The City | Truth and Soul |
| Bowlegs | Funk Inc | Chicken Lickin' | Prestige Records, Inc. |
| Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off | Ella Fitzgerald | Ella Fitzgerald Ella Fitzgerald Sings The George and Ira Gershwin Song Book | Verve |
During the show listeners were invited to report the names they had for grandparents, so here's my data point:
My mother's parents were "Grandma" and "Grandpa". Because we saw them less often, my father's parents were qualified as "Grandma Mary" and "Grandpa Wally".
The oddity comes when you jump beyond that in any direction. My great-grandmother was "Granny", not entirely due to her similarity in personality and bearing to the character from "The Beverly Hillbillies". It was many years before I realized that other people called their grandmothers by that term. Living with Granny (across the street from us) was Grandma's older sister (my great aunt), variously called "Granny Jo" or "Georgie".
Great aunts and great uncles on all sides were simply "Aunt So-and-so" and "Uncle So-and-so"; both my mother and father were an only child (I've never come up with a good way of pluralizing that expression) so we had no actual "Aunt" or "Uncle". My cousin-once-removed (Georgie's daughter) was called "Aunt Alice" because she was closer to the age of my grandmother's younger sister, and it didn't seem right to call someone that much older "Cousin".
When my daughter (the first grandchild) was first learning to speak, she called my mother "Ama." That quickly turned to "Ada" and that version stuck. My father is Pop Pop. All of my parents' grandchildren call them Ada & Pop Pop. My husband's mother, being Dutch, is "Oma."
As for my great-aunts and great-uncles, they were always just plain "Aunt" and "Uncle."
Ron Draney said:
During the show listeners were invited to report the names they had for grandparents, so here's my data point:
My mother's parents were "Grandma" and "Grandpa". Because we saw them less often, my father's parents were qualified as "Grandma Mary" and "Grandpa Wally".
Maybe this is regional (Wisconsin), or maybe it was just careless pronunciation, but we always dropped the "d" and just said "Gramma" and "Grampa." But that was on my mother's side, and we were very close to them … lived in their upstairs apartment in fact.
But for my dad's side, it was always "Gramma Heim" and "Grampa Heim" perhaps to just distinguish them form the other "Gramma" and "Grampa."
All my aunts and uncles, regardless of generation, were just that. Aunt (first name) and Uncle (first name).
I remember reading in Newsweek a long time ago an article about an up an coming Russian politician who was considered in Russia to be "a piano in the shrubbery". It means someone not totally trustworthy, or shady, I guess. I think it's hilarious.