Carlos in Augusta, Kentucky, says that in Cuba, when it was raining while the sun was still shining, he used to hear people say la hija del diablo se está casando, or literally, “the devil’s daughter is getting married.” A friend from Alabama told him that the expression she always heard was The devil’s daughter is getting beaten. These and many other sayings around the world denoting sunshowers all refer to some kind of supernatural activity, whether it’s The devil is beating his wife, heard primarily in the Southern United States, or in parts of Mexico, Las conejas están pariendo or “The rabbits are giving birth.” In Puerto Rico, it’s Están casando una bruja, literally “They are marrying a witch.” In Korea, it’s tigers getting married; in Bulgaria, it’s the nuptials of bears; and in some Arabic-speaking countries, the animals getting hitched are rats. In South Africa, a sunshower is referred to as a monkey’s wedding. This is part of a complete episode.
After our conversation about towns with extremely short names, many listeners wrote to tell us about Why, Arizona. Others pointed out that there are towns called Ely in Iowa, Minnesota, and Nevada. Other super-short appellations include Rye, New...
Debbie from Crawfordsville, Florida, says that when she and her husband reach an impasse while working on something, they’ll say Let’s grok about it, which they use to mean “Let’s think about it.” Grok was coined by...
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