A Kentucky listener wonders about the admonition I’m going to cut your water off, which she’s heard from parents disciplining a child, but might also used between adults. The phrase “to cut someone’s water off” has been around since at least the 1930s. In the early 1950s, received a boost in popularity from country-music singer Toby Dowdy’s rendition of the song “I’d Cut Your Water Off.” Elaborations of this expression include I’ll cut your water off and take the meter out and I’ll cut your water off and read your meter. This is part of a complete episode.
What makes a great first line of a book? How do the best authors put together an initial sentence that draws you in and makes you want to read more? We’re talking about the openings of such novels as George Orwell’s 1984...
To slip someone a mickey means to doctor a drink and give it to an unwitting recipient. The phrase goes back to Mickey Finn of the Lone Star Saloon in Chicago, who in the late 19th century was notorious for drugging certain customers and relieving...
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